Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 DOI 10.1007/s11692-016-9394-3

SYNTHESIS PAPER

Time: The Biggest Pattern in Natural Research

Nathalie Gontier1

Received: 11 October 2016 / Accepted: 13 October 2016 / Published online: 28 October 2016 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract We distinguish between four cosmological Keywords Cosmology · Cosmogony · Matter · · transitions in the history of Western intellectual thought, · Time’s cycle · Time’s arrow · Periodicity · and focus on how these cosmologies differentially define Evolutionary epistemology matter, space and time. We demonstrate that how time is conceptualized significantly impacts a cosmology’s notion on causality, and hone in on how time is conceptualized Introduction differentially in modern physics and evolutionary biology. The former conflates time with space into a single space– Humans distinguish themselves from other biological time continuum and focuses instead on the movement of organisms by developing intellectual knowledge on the matter, while the evolutionary sciences have a tradition to world. The intellectual thoughts that we developed underlie understand time as a given when they cartography how cosmology-formation and in so far as they have been organisms change across generations over or in time, materialized in writings, we can reconstruct the genealog- thereby proving the phenomenon of evolution. The gap ical trajectories of our intellectual schools of thought. From becomes more fundamental when we take into account that historical research, we know that western intellectual phenomena studied by chrono-biologists demonstrate that thought transitioned from naturalistic (sometimes called numerous organisms, including humans, have evolved a animistic) to theistic to scientific cosmologies, and con- “sense” of time. And micro-evolutionary/genetic, meso- gruent notions on causality have been called holistic, evolutionary/developmental and macro-evolutionary phe- reductionist and statistical or interactional. Such analyses nomena including speciation and extinction not only occur mostly focus on how cosmologies differentially define by different evolutionary modes and at different rates, they matter and space. Here we analyze instead how the various are also timely phenomena that follow different periodic- cosmologies define time and how this impacts their ideas ities. This article focusses on delineating the problem by on causality. finding its historical roots. We conclude that though time The ancient Greeks endorsed a circular time notion that might be an obsolete concept for the physical sciences, it is was linearized by Judeo-Christian traditions that under- crucial for the evolutionary sciences where evolution is stood time as a sequence of historical events that have a defined as the change that biological individuals undergo unique cosmogonic beginning and a clear and known in/over or through time. eschatological ending. This linear view of time became “scientified” by the natural history scholars who, inspired by the invention of the pendulum and the automated, me- chanical , understood time first as a natural law-like & Nathalie Gontier phenomenon and later as absolute. [email protected] Today, the evolutionary sciences understand time both as an axis whereon or whereby they map phylogenetic 1 Applied Evolutionary Epistemology Lab, Centre for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, speciation events in a Cartesian two- or three-dimensional Portugal coordinate system, and they understand (knowledge of) 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 605 periodicity either as a trait or a characteristic in the We demonstrate that these transitions in cosmologies (life) cycle of many biological individuals (including and their accompanying cosmographies can be explained in organisms but also species). Modern physics on the con- correlation with advances made in how we, as a species, trary has come to question the existence of time by treating have mastered knowledge on the nature of matter, space time and space as a single continuum and reducing time to and most of all time. How we understand matter, space and the study of motion. Different notions of time therefore time (ontologically) in turn depends upon how we con- underlie a fundamental gap between current physical and ceptualize and calculate the latter (epistemologically) from evolutionary sciences. The primary aim here is to develop a within cultural traditions including scientific ones, and by better understanding of the problems associated with the making use of natural and mathematical languages. For (in)existence of time. This already results in a lengthy these reasons, cosmologies impact how we define causality, contribution and we therefore end the article with briefly and we will examine how and why our notions on causality outlining three suggestions on how time can remain a valid have transitioned from being understood as cyclical to concept for the evolutionary sciences. linear to mechanical and multidirectional. In what follows, we outline these different cosmologies and cosmographies and focus in particular on how they The Four Western Cosmologies define time and causality differentially. While this by and large implies an analysis of philosophical and scientific Cosmologies or worldviews provide epistemological thought, and though I am a philosopher of science, this frameworks for understanding the ontology or metaphysics paper is also written from within my background as a of the universe which translates into philosophizing on the comparative cultural anthropologist. This means that my nature of existence by providing theories on matter, space aim is to compare and thereby understand the differences and time. Transitions in intellectual history underlie between the cosmologies and to outline their historical changes in cosmologies and we distinguish between four trajectories, more than it is to represent them from within such major transitions in western schools of thought. The the specific doctrines involved. Given the large scope of classic Greek cosmology transitioned into the Judeo- this article, it is also not my aim to give full details on the Christian cosmology that was overthrown by the rise of various doctrines involved, but to find their underlying classical physics and natural history schools. We will argue structures and the transitions they underwent. that the latter are currently transitioning into a new and rising cosmology brought forth both by modern physics and modern evolutionary biology (Table 1). The Intellectual Structure of Greek Cosmologies One way we examine these transitions is by analyzing the cosmographies that depict the intellectual patterns that Cosmologies explain the nature of existence by providing structure cosmologies. The ancient Greeks patterned the theories on matter, space and time. Western cosmologies cosmos into wheels of time, chains of being and cycles of still track back to those of the ancient Greeks that com- “coming and becoming” that transitioned into Judeo- mence with the writings of the pre-Socratics and that Christian scala naturae or stairways to heaven as well as culminate with the works of Plato and Aristotle. I will historical on creation, that in turn transitioned focus on these latter two scholars, and I will do so exten- into scientific tree and network diagrams that model and sively, because they were the most influential for cartography aspects of the evolving cosmos. intellectual thought as it would develop in Judeo-Christian

Table 1 Summary of the four transitions in the intellectual history of western thought, their different notions of time and their associated concepts of causality Cosmology Ancient Greeks Judeo-Christians Classical physics and Modern physics and evolutionary natural history biology

Cosmographies Wheels of time and Scala naturae and and trees Trees and networks chains of being timelines Time (Once created) eternal Cosmogonic and Linear and multi-linear Inexistent or multiple and circular/cyclical eschatological and multi-directional True versus relative versus Absolute (mathematical) Space–time versus geological, time created/numerical versus relative time chrono-biological and phenomenological time versus numerical time Causality Cyclical teleology Chronological, non- Mechanical, uniform teleology Statistical probabilities uniform teleology and uncertainties

123 606 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 cosmologies of the Middle Ages, and their influence well a macroscale, and recursively earth on a mesoscale, is a extends to the rise of Natural History Research. solid living body made up of the elements on a microscale. Although Plato and his student Aristotle vary in their Fire and earth give visibility and tangibility, and air and teachings in great detail, both share a basic intellectual water become intermediary binding elements with “air structure whereupon they build their cosmology. This basic being to water as fire to air, and water being to earth as air intellectual structure has precursors in non-Western cos- to water”. According to Aristotle, the elements also have mologies which we do not discuss in this section but we temperaments or temperatures, earth is cold, fire is warm, will briefly mention them in the next. Instead, here we water is wet and air is dry. Plato (Timaeus 53c–56) states focus on how the common structure defines their notions that all elements are made up of solid bodies where “depth on time and causality. should be bounded by a plane surface; and the rectilinear Firstly, this common structure involves a distinction plane is composed of triangles …”. The different elements between the non-existent, that what exists temporarily, and originate through a different combination of pyramids and that was exists permanently. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle they can somewhat transform into one another (e.g. water (2012), for example, distinguished between the realm of can boil and evaporate). Fire is a tetrahedron, earth is a non-being (what we would call nothing), the realm of cube, air an octahedron, and water an icosahedron, and coming and becoming (earth and its inhabitants that today we know these three-dimensional structures as the undergo constant change), and the metaphysical realm of platonic solids. All planetary bodies on a macroscale, and (permanent) being that include celestial bodies (planets and all earthly substances on a mesoscale are “ordered” or stars) and his notorious unmoved mover. Aristotle based made up from these microelements, and humans can his views on the works of Plato (1960, Timaeus 27d–28a) understand this order through the science of geometry. who in turn built upon the Ionic philosophers when he The distinction of the cosmos into a micro-, meso- and distinguished between “that which is existent always and macro-cosmos does not follow a linear or rigid hierarchy has no becoming” (the permanent or that which never where things get added one after the other. Rather, sub- perishes) and “that which is becoming always and never is stances are recursively embedded Russian dolls that can be existent” (the temporal that undergoes constant change and purer or less composite than others. In association, they are therefore never really is), both of which he argued were more or less enduring in time. All earthly bodies, for preceded by chaos (nothing). example, perish, while the celestial bodies are thought to be Secondly, nothing, or that what does not exist, is called made of purer elements, and their bonds, for Plato, can “chaos” and chaos precedes both the permanent celestial only be broken by the demiurge who made them in the first beings and the changing earth that originate from place. And without a second law of thermodynamics, there chaos (Timaeus 30a, 37d). This implies that although chaos is no energy expenditure, so the substances merely break is no-thing, it does exist as an “unformed” substance down to their microelements that return to chaos until they wherefrom the permanent and temporal, which are both reshape or reincarnate into different solid bodies. Bodily structures in time, originate. Nothing or the inexistent, substances in turn are distinguished from a pure intellect, however, neither lies in the nor the . Although one that has no body and that therefore remains permanent. chaos precedes timely things, chaos itself is timeless. As said, the four elements roam in place or space,to Instead, chaos is conceptualized as a disordered or which we now turn. For Plato (Timaeus 52b), place “pro- unformed state of matter and chaos is distinguished from vides room for all things that have birth … for … it is order (logos). Both the realm of the temporal and the somehow necessary that all that exists should exist in some eternal are conceptualized as ordered structures, mostly spot and occupying some place, and that that which is because they have a form or structure. neither on earth nor anywhere in the Heaven [outer space] Thirdly, the cosmos or universe and its inhabitants are is nothing”. Place and space are thus the locus where said to be ordered because they are distinguished into matter roams, and this locus can be conceptualized both as matter and space. Matter is described in terms of the four inner, earthly place (the mesocosmos) and outer space (the elements, fire, air, water and earth that roam in place or macrocosmos). Place enables substances to exist on a space, which can be considered the fifth element (Plato, micro- and mesoscale, and on a macroscale, in outer space Timaeus 58d). We first turn to their concept of matter and and from within their geocentric worldview, we find earth then to their concept of place or space. in the middle followed by the celestial bodies that are All matter is made up of the elements that recursively, presumed to orbit in perfect circles around it. and in less or purer form, make up the various layers of the Place and space therefore also consort with ether which cosmos. Inspired by the atomistic schools of the fifth is considered the purest element of air that fills space century BC that theorized that all wholes are made up from thereby enabling movement of matter. In Greek mythology discrete parts, for Plato (Timaeus 31b–32c), the cosmos on (Decaen 2004), “ether” is both a deity and a substance that 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 607 brings forth the “brightest” light; it coincides with the different natural places in the cosmos which causes for upper layer of the atmosphere where it provides the conflict. In addition, when matter is not moved “internally “purest” air to (other) deities that reign in “heaven” or or naturally” according to its harmonious place in the outer space; and with Plato and Aristotle, it becomes cosmos, it is moved by external force (either purposefully associated with the crystalline substance that bounds the or accidentally), and such movements also cause for planets to their orbits around the earth as well as the less conflict. perfect substance that enables movement of everyday Nonetheless, here too there exists a Chain of Being that, objects in place. For those reasons, ether, in ancient Greece according to Aristotle (History of Animals, 588b:4–14 in and the Middle Ages that would follow, is often conflated Barnes 1984), ties all substances together into “a continu- with air (and later with fire) leading to theorizing on not ous scale of ascent”. This scale of ascent goes from lifeless five but four elements. and inanimate matter to the beings with a vegetative, ani- The outer boundary of space coincides with the . mistic and intellectual soul and shows the degree of And this ancient universe is represented by the fifth Pla- perfection a substance possesses (for a discussion see tonic solid which is often interpreted as the dodecahedron, Gontier 2011). Bodies however remain fixed. At most, they although Plato never gives a specific name. In the most have the potential to reach their final goal in harmony with common interpretations, the dodecahedron has 12 faces their end place (a human body can mature and reach old that each form a perfect pentagon, but these pentagons can , for example, and it can develop its intellect to the also be understood as pyramid- or stellar-like (as is the case highest form of perfection). This scala naturae as the in the pentakis and stellated dodecahedron). According to Latins would call it, for the Greeks is therefore merely an Plato, the demiurge “used it up for the Universe in his assessment, or if one wishes, a non-evolutionary systematic decoration thereof”. classification of the types of “souls” there are, and “per- Fourthly, all order in the cosmos is temporal because all fection” is used as the criterion by which such classification solid bodies (can) perish (with or without the intervention occurs. of Plato’s demiurge, who according to him can make and What is more important, is that all bodies that make up break the celestial bodies). The cosmos thus undergoes the Chain of Being are in turn bounded or chained by the constant change (or it has the potential to do so) and all inevitable and predestined Cycle of Coming and Becom- change is defined as the motion or movement of matter ing. Microelements order into substances and when these (earth, fire, water and air as well as the earthly and celestial substances perish they return to chaos until they underlie substances they form) in place or space (the fifth element). the formation of new substances. On a meso-level, plants Starting with the micro-elements, these all have a des- and animals grow, flourish and die and their offspring does ignated place in the cosmos to which they move just the same. And on a macroscale, planets are chained to “naturally”. For Aristotle (2012, Metaphysics, Book 12, their orbits, returning to their original starting position 1073b1–1074a13), earth naturally moves to the center, every end of their particular cycle. This recurring and water to the surface, air to the sky, and the air/sky are circular cycle or chain of events, which in subsequent followed by fire and ether. On a macro-scale, the living cosmologies would be called the linear succession of planets’ place (understood both as locus and goal) is to matter in motion, defines causality, and for the Greeks, this orbit in perfect circles around the earth (facilitated by chain follows an inevitable cycle of coming and becoming, ether), and they do so each at their own rhythm or pace in a cycle that regenerates or reincarnates over and over what Plato (Timaeus 37a–38e) calls the Circle of the again. Similar. This circle is “similar” to what he calls the Circle In sum, there are, roughly, two types of movement, one of the Same, which refers to the sidereal sky that contains natural and internal, and one unnatural and external. The the wheel of the zodiac. natural movement of substances or bodies follows the The zodiac literally translates as the circle/cycle or belt/ predestined and inevitable cycle of coming and becoming, chain of animals, and it is thus in this context of celestial and elements have an “inner” calling and a “wanting” to motion that we find the first use of Chains of Being. The return to their natural and designated place in the cosmos zodiac and the planets, for Plato, all stay in course with (what Aristotle calls the formal and final cause to which we destiny and necessity because the demiurge has “chained” return later). External movement is any movement induced or formed “a living bond” of them which only the demiurge by extraneous force on an object. The cosmos is in constant can break, and he has defined and informed them of their flux, and any change is defined as the movement of matter proper duties, which involve their rotations. in place or space. All movement in turn, is considered to On a meso-level, things become more complicated. follow a predestined, regenerating and reincarnating cycle Most earthly substances are composite and thus made up of or chain of events: the cycle of coming and becoming and different elements that each “want” to “move” to their the circular return of the planets and the stars to their 123 608 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 original positions in the Cycles of the Similar and the conceptualized as circular and eternal, and all other cycles Same. with relative time, they disagreed on the nature of time Fifthly, as said, cosmologies define matter, space and itself. For Plato, time comes into being when the demiurge time and it is through their theories of motion that Plato and molds time as a copy or imitation of eternity, but for Aristotle defined time. As we saw, any movement or Aristotle, time has neither beginning nor ending and thus motion of matter in place or space occurs in a cyclic timely corresponds with eternity. fashion. From their geocentric worldview, the cycle of the Time is circular for Aristotle because if we think of any sidereal stars define (the hours of) night and day; the moment in time, we think about what was before or what moon’s cycle defines the Greeks’ lunar monthly ; comes after, and thus we continue thinking about time. For and the sun’s (apparent) counterclockwise movement Aristotle, such continuity demonstrates circularity. Any through the zodiac (the or what he calls the and all thinking on beginnings and endings are furthermore Revolution of the Other) defines a yearly cycle (Plato Ti- only made possible because there is time. maeus, 37e–39c). But it is impossible that movement should either have Plato (Timaeus, 39c) noted that: “Of the other stars the come into being or cease to be (for it must always revolutions have not been discovered by men (save for a have existed), or that time should. For there could not few out of the many); wherefore they have no names for be a before and an after if time did not exist. them, nor do they compute and compare their relative Movement also is continuous, then, in the sense in measurements, so that they are not aware, as a rule, [39d] which time is; for time is either the same thing as that the “wanderings” of these bodies, which are hard to movement or an attribute of movement. And there is calculate and of wondrous complexity, constitute Time.” no continuous movement except movement in place, And by time here he meant relative time, a time that, in his and of this only that which is circular is continuous. epistemology, brings forth mere opinions (doxa) that (Aristotle, Metaphysics XII, 6) oppose true knowledge (episteme). He continued this pas- sage by noting that “Nevertheless, it is still quite possible Time is either identical to movement (of matter in space) or to perceive that the complete number of Time fulfils the an attribute thereof and in a specific reading of Aristotle, Complete Year when all the eight circuits [Earth, the the unmoved mover or primary cause can even be Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn], understood as true or eternal time. It is true time (as a with their relative speeds, finish together and come to a metaphysical constant) that therefore moves or causes all head, when measured by the revolution of the Same and motion of matter in the cycle of coming and becoming that Similarly-moving.” True time then, for Plato, accords with underlies his “great chain of being”. the Complete Year, the grand cycle that recommences For Plato on the other hand, the bodiless eternal being when all different cycles realign to their original position. stands above and beyond time, an idea that would later be Today we call it the Platonic year. adopted by Judeo-Christian religion. Or as Plato (Timaeus The ancient Greek differentiation between relative and 37e–38a) said it: true time is thus mainly due to the earth’s wobble around For simultaneously with the construction of the its own axis, the precession. Viewed from earth, it makes Heaven He [the demiurge] contrived the production the pole star, the equinoxes, and the zodiac wheel shift over of days and nights and months and years, which time. All planets have such a precession and stars have existed not before the Heaven came into being. And proper motion too. Whether and which precessions were these are all portions of Time; even as “Was” and known to Plato and Aristotle is uncertain, but they knew of “Shall be” are generated forms of Time, although we the consequences of Earth’s precession: the zodiac shifts apply them wrongly, without noticing, to Eternal over time until it reaches its original starting point. For Being. For we say that it “is” or “was” or “will be,” Plato, the complete cycle corresponds with the (hypothe- whereas, in truth of speech, “is” alone [38a] is the sized) exact alignment of all cycles to their original appropriate term; “was” and “will be,” on the other position, and the cycle of this complete year is assumed not hand, are terms properly applicable to the Becoming to undergo change, instead it repeats for all eternity. For which proceeds in Time, since both of these are that reason, it correlates to true time, and any knowledge of motions; but it belongs not to that which is ever this cycle, for Plato, corresponds to true episteme. Conse- changeless in its uniformity to become either older or quently, relative time is given a mere numerical value, e.g. younger through time, nor ever to have become so, year 1, 2, 3, … of a bigger repeating cycle. And all nor to be so now, nor to be about to be so hereafter, are conceptualized as circular motions. nor in general to be subject to any of the conditions Nonetheless, though both Plato and Aristotle agree that which Becoming has attached to the things which the complete cycle corresponds with true time which is 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 609

move in the world of Sense, these being generated contains roughly two times 14 days each divided into 4 forms of Time, which imitates Eternity and circles phases and there are 13 such cycles in a year of 364 days. round according to number. But such numbers are too “unlucky” or “imperfect” and in line with the 360° circle, months become rounded up into 2 times 15 days and reduced to 12 (which roughly corre- Time and Causality for the Ancient Greeks sponds to the synodic months) which makes for 360 days. And each month corresponds with one of the 12 zodiacal Both Aristotle and Plato argued that all becoming or motion signs. of matter proceeds in time, and time, as the last citation said, The zodiac in turn defines an idealized 360-day long circles round according to number. Plato says that human year. The tropical zodiac (Gingerich 1984) is entirely based intellects can come to know and participate in these numbers. upon the—for viewers in the northern hemisphere coun- In this part we analyze just what kind of number system he terclockwise, and for viewers in the southern hemisphere applied. By taking the zodiac as an example, we first clockwise—apparent movement of the sun (the ecliptic) demonstrate that the ancients calculated both true and rela- around a geocentric earth. This movement too is thought as tive time from within the sciences of geometry and a perfect cycle and thus as a full 360° circle. The Sun’s trigonometry, both of which affiliate with a more ancient movement is tracked in relation to the 12 zodiac signs that sexagesimal counting system (a number system that has 60 as it runs through over the year, and these signs correspond its base). Secondly, we describe the genealogical roots of the with stellar that are formed from connecting sexagesimal system and detail how it was replaced, or better distinct stars to one another by imaginary lines. One zodiac reduced, to the decimal counting system. Thirdly, we hone sign represents one month, and a new zodiac sign is said to in on how the sexagesimal counting system explains the begin when the sun enters the sign (e.g. point 0 of the ancients’ ideas on causality. perfect circle marks the beginning of and point 30 is 1. In his Timaeus, Plato (1960) points out that in Greek point 0 for ). Accordingly, the circle is divided into mythology Uranus (sky) and Gaia (earth) give birth to 12 equal parts, each separated from one another by 30°, and Kro´nos (relative or numerical time understood as tempo each month lasts exactly 30 days, and 1° represents one which means both speed and weather) that gives birth to day. The zodiac also aligns with the equinoxes (point zero Zeus (day). Kro´nos is the deity from which we lend the of Aries and ) and the solstices (point zero of word or timekeeping, and he associates with and ) and thus with the 4 seasons that we dis- the last planet before the zodiac, Saturn. Kro´nos is there- tinguish in the west. fore often depicted with agricultural tools such as the sickle Western astrologists furthermore divide the 12 signs in and scythe, because knowledge of the zodiac lends insight three ways, always beginning with Aries (Fig. 1). Duplic- into the yearly seasons and this enables successful farming. ity-wise, they attribute a male and female status to each Temporal time is distinguished from Aeon (not mentioned sign; triplicity-wise they divide the signs into cardinal, by Plato) that represents true time or eternity. fixed and mutable signs; and quadruplicity-wise they add Plato could think of no reason to disbelieve his ancients the four elements (fire, earth, air and water), and they do so in what regards the origin of time, and he subsequently for all signs in a repetitive and alternating way. When we argued that his demiurge distinguished between the circle draw lines between the genders, we obtain two perfect of the same and the similar, the stars and the planets. hexagons (2 times 6); connecting the triplicities we obtain Relative time, understood both as speed and weather, is three perfect squares (3 times 4), and linking the same derived from celestial motions, and for Plato these motions elements brings forth four perfect triangles (4 times 3). All are knowledgeable through number, and applicable only to form dodecagons (12-sided polygons) and when we add all that becomes in time (the motion of matter in space), volume and combine either the fourfold triangles, the because the eternal being stands above and beyond it. threefold squares or the twofold hexagons, we obtain Plato goes no further, but how then, did the ancients dodecahedrons where the element-based one for Plato calculate time (Macey 1989; Chrisomalis 2010; Rudman represents the entire universe. 2007)? From within their geocentric worldview, the rota- The zodiac year, the months and hours are all under- tion of the stars defines night and day that, idealized and on stood as perfect circles or wheels, and all are highly the days of the equinoxes, contain 2 times 12 h made up of abstract, idealized and complete models of how the 60 min made up of 60 s. Hours, minutes and seconds, even ancients understood tempo. They are idealized numbers today, remain depicted by a 360° circle that is divided into because, from within their actual time measurements, 12 equal parts. The moon cycle defines the months which the ancient Greeks and later also the Romans were already for the Hellenics are sidereal while in the later Julian cal- much closer to the actual times that these phenomena take endar they are synodic (Samuel 1972). A sidereal month (Macey 1989). Following the Egyptians, both already lived 123 610 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637

Fig. 1 An abstraction of the “perfect” tropical zodiac. The zodiac , , and are mutable signs (in grey). defines a yearly cycle and marks a four-seasonal alignment in line Duplicities connect into two perfect hexagons, triplicities form four with the equinoxes and solstices. The zodiac begins in Spring when, perfect triangles, and quadruplicities lead to three perfect squares. from a geocentric worldview, the ecliptic (or apparent movement of Each of the three dodecagons is the middle of a three-dimensional the sun) touches the celestial equator; and that moment is set to align dodecahedron. For Plato, the dodecahedron represents the perfect with point zero of Aries. Duplicity-wise, Aries, Gemini, , Libra, universe, and it is obtained via the triangles that represent the Sagittarius, and are masculine signs (in dark blue); Taurus, elements. The squares and hexagons are older means to represent the Cancer, Virgo, , Capricorn and Pisces are feminine signs (in beginnings and endings of the 12 positions of the zodiac. The pink). Triplicity-wise, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are Fire signs (in hexagons, for example, correspond with the six seasons that each last red); Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are Earth signs (in brown); 2 months in the Vedic Zodiac. The squares are probably of ancient Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are Air signs (in black); and Cancer, Egyptian origin. Materialized, these shapes were perhaps used as Scorpio and Pisces are Water signs (in light blue). Quadruplicity-wise, turntables to obtain and predict the positions of the signs and thus the Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn are cardinal signs (in green); tempo (understood as weather) Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius are fixed signs (in purple); and in a 365 instead of 360-day long years. The Greek empire 360, etc. and these numbers too have prominent roles in a never had a uniform calendar, and not all months had an sexagesimal system. The system is older than the decimal equal (30-day long) , and their calendar remained one and was developed by both Mesopotamian (Egyptian based upon the moon cycle, with some provinces interca- and Babylonian) and ancient Vedic peoples from at least lating an extra 13th month. the 3rd millennium BC onward (Neugebauer et al. 1945; 2. Where then, do these idealizations come from? Rudman 2007). And these populations share common lin- The above italicized numbers all have a prominent meaning guistic and genetic roots (Cavalli-Sforza 2000; Kuzmina in the sexagesimal number system that take 60 as its base. 2007). The number 60 is what mathematicians today call a supe- In the sexagesimal number system, the symbols and rior highly composite number. The number 60 can be numbers 1 through 9 are there, but this does not yet decomposed into 12 factors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, establish a decimal system, because originally the number 30, 60) and it has 3 prime numbers. Besides 60, other such zero was lacking. When exactly this number was first superior highly composite numbers are 2, 6, 12, 60, 120, introduced is unknown, but evidence suggests that

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Egyptians used it from around the 2nd millennium BC (Griffith 1896) are called mandalas, which is Sanskrit for (Gheverghese 2011), Babylonians left a void space from circle, and mandalas or wheels of time are typical cos- 700 BC (Kaplan 2000), and first written evidence for Vedic mographies of Hinduism as well as its later derivatives usage of the number zero dates to only 300 BC (Oˆ hashi such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Here, in 1993; Plofker 2009: 56). All cultures precede the Greeks, correspondence with the introduction of the number 0, but Plato is estimated to have written his Timaeus around which for the Vedic corresponds with the fifth element 360 BC, so before the Vedic used the number 0. First (void or what we call ether), and with the eternal repetition written evidence however seldom associates with actual of the cycles, it guides their ideas on reincarnation. introductions of ideas or notational systems. In the Vedic sidereal zodiac (Pingree 1973, 1981; Certain is that the ancient Greeks in general did not Ohashi 2014; Vahnia and Yadav 2011), a 360° circle is apply the number zero in their alphabetic number system made up of 6 times 60° that align with their not 4 but 6 (Chrisomalis 2010), not because they had no knowledge of seasons that are represented by the hexagons: spring, it, but because they questioned its validity, by asking how summer, monsoon, autumn, prewinter, winter. These are nothing can bring about something. Plato (Timaeus 30a, represented by not one but two hexagons because seasons 37d) and Aristotle (with his description of how unformed shift over time due to the precession (ayanām_ śa). Also due or disordered matter is turned into an ordered structure to the precession, zodiacal signs shift over ages (a word through the material and formal cause), on the other hand, that for us lends its name from the Greek deity Aeon that took as a given that nothing or chaos precedes order. So associates with true time). Spring, for example, used to be while perhaps not accepted in mainstream Greek thought, in the Age or Aeon of Aries, currently it is in the Age of there is no reason to assume that philosophers were not Pisces and in the future it will be in the Age of Aquarius). aware of more ancient sexagesimal number systems and The shift from one sign to another is calculated as 6 sea- the associated knowledge they provide on the tempo (speed sons times 360 days which equals to 2.160 years. This and weather), the zodiac and the hypothesized complete latter number, times 12 signs gives 25.920 years which year. The Romans did use the number zero, and also had equals the amount of time it takes to complete the cycle of significantly more contact with Egypt than the ancient the zodiac, what we call the Platonic great year. Or, cal- Greeks did (although there was contact); as did Ptolemy culated differently, every 72 years (6 times 12), the (Ashmand 1822), who introduced the tropical zodiac as we equinoxes and the zodiac shift with 1°, and 72 times 360 know it, thereby continuing to apply a sexagesimal number equals 25.920. NASA currently calculates the Platonic year system. So the question remains how much the ancient to be 25.800 years, so the Vedic came very close. Greeks new about it, and answers might be found in Contrary to the tropical zodiac, the sidereal zodiac sketching the genealogy of the zodiac. (Fig. 2) thus takes the precession into account. Accord- The tropical zodiac finds its origin in Mesopotamia ingly, the vernal equinox occurs in Pisces, but when their while the Vedic developed a sidereal zodiac (Pingree 1981; system first became introduced, it occurred in Aries. Aries Oˆ hashi 1993, 2014; Rogers 1998). Both make use of marked not only the beginning of Spring but also the exactly the same signs that are based upon the same stellar beginning of the New Year which was an adaptation from constellations, and these were also known to both the Holi or the Spring and New Year festival that was calcu- Greeks and the Romans (Schaefer 2006). lated based upon the moon cycle. Drawing the dodecagon by means of duplicities, trip- The tropical zodiac as we know it in the west does not licities or quadruplicities makes us enter the realm of take the (consequences of the) precession into account and magic or sacred geometry. Such geometry can be purely aligns the vernal equinox straightforwardly with point 0 of diagrammatic and thus number-free, and such shapes can Aries, so the system remains fixed over the ages. and most likely were also studied through cymatics or the Also different is that for most of the Greek provinces the study of sound waves. But when looking for perfection, any year does not start in Spring, rather it ends with the associated calculations were made from within trigonom- beginning of Winter. To understand this shift we need to go etry which was originally formulated in a sexagesimal to Mesopotamian writings. The tropical zodiac is often number system. considered a neo-Babylonian invention that became intro- Geometrical configurations such as triangles and squares duced around 700 BC, but we find the first written evidence feature prominently in Egyptian artworks, and hexagons, of knowledge of a zodiac in early Mesopotamian writings. dodecagons, and dodecahedrons are hallmarks of Vedic The Enûma Eliš (King 1902) is a creation myth written on mandalas. In Vedic cosmology, timekeeping is one of the clay tablets dating to 1.100 BC while the story is thought to vedāṅga or accompanying sciences of the Vedic scriptures be at least a 1.000 years older. It describes how Marduk (Lochtefeld 2002), and timekeeping is defined as astron- (Jupiter, the second farthest planet in ancient cosmology— omy or astrology. The various sections of the Rg-Veda or at that time perhaps thought to be the last one before the 123 612 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637

Fig. 2 The difference between the sidereal (green/above) and tropical zodiac (brown/below) as seen from a geocentric earth. The tropical zodiac is entirely sun-based and the signs are set upon the ecliptic. The sidereal zodiac is based upon the position of the sun in relation to the star constellations as they appear in the night sky (measured in the early morning when the sun rises). The tropical zodiac aligns the spring equinox (the point where the ecliptic or apparent position of the sun touches the celestial sphere) straight onto point 0 of the tropical Aries, and the summer and winter solstices fall perpendicular upon it, respectively right between Gemini and Cancer and Sagittarius and Capricorn. The earth wobbles and therefore tilts around 23.5° from the equator, which causes for a 1° shift over a span of 72 years. Measured against the sidereal zodiac, this causes for the spring equinox to be 5 s early every year, a phenomenon called precession. The Vedic had good knowledge of the precession and took it into account when measuring the vernal equinox. The tropical zodiac does not, and since its adoption the vernal equinox is therefore fixed in Aries (the image is based on http://www. vedicastroyoga.com/learn/ vedic-vs-western/) (Color figure online)

zodiac) successfully saves other agents (deities mothered day remain unidentified, but those that have appear to be a by the chaotic couple Apsu/cosmic water or sky/space and mix of signs that belong to the tropical, Egyptian (Den- Tiamut/earthly water)—from being killed by 11 monsters dera), sidereal and even the Chinese zodiac. created by Tiamut in revenge for the gods (their children) Marduk is considered the Babylonian king of mankind putting Apsu to sleep (because he in turn wanted to kill and the maker of the calendar. He also affiliates with the them because they made too much noise—the story of planet Jupiter, that “rules” over the Sagittarius constella- Babel). With bow and arrow (Sagittarius/Jupiter), Marduk tion, the bow and arrow man. And because Sagittarius is slays the 11 “monsters” that include the Scorpio man, fish- said to rule over the 11 chained signs, he can be interpreted man (Pisces) and ram (Aries), but also creatures such as to represent the 12th (and thus 1st) sign that marks the snakes and a dragon, and places them in the night sky beginning of the Babylonian new year. This is because the where, chained forever at his feet, they serve the humans to Sagittarian sign associates with the period wherein the calculate time (Table 2). Some of the 11 monsters to this winter solstice occurs (sometime between 21st and 23rd of

123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 613

Table 2 Extract from Tablet 5 of the Enûma Eliš He (Marduk) made the stations for the great gods; The stars, their images, as the stars of the Zodiac, he fixed. He ordained the year and into sections he divided it; For the twelve months he fixed three stars. After he had… the days of the year… images, He founded the station of Nibir [the planet Jupiter] to determine their bounds; That none might err or go astray, He set the station of Bel and Ea along with him. He opened great gates on both sides, He made strong the bolt on the left and on the right. In the midst thereof he fixed the zenith; The Moon-god he caused to shine forth, the night he entrusted to him. He appointed him, a being of the night, to determine the days; Every month without ceasing with the crown he covered him, saying: “At the beginning of the month, when thou shinest upon the land, Thou commandest the horns to determine six days, And on the seventh day to divide the crown. On the fourteenth day thou shalt stand opposite, the half…. When the Sun-god on the foundation of heaven…thee, The… thou shalt cause to…, and thou shalt make his… unto the path of the Sun-god shalt thou cause to draw night, And on the… day thou shalt stand opposite, and the Sun-god shall… to traverse her way…. thou shalt cause to draw nigh, and thou shalt judge the right…. to destroy…” … They praised the work which he had done… Then Anu raised the… in the assembly of the gods. He kissed the bow, saying, “It is…!” And thus he named the names of the bow, saying, “‘Long-wood’ shall be one name, and the second name shall be…, And its third name shall be the Bow-star, in heaven shall it…!” The ellipses are not mine, they mark lost fragments (translated by King 1902)

December), which in many middle eastern and western fragmented works that include the Kore Kosmou or Virgin cultures is accompanied with celebrations such as the of the World, i.e. Hermetic writings that detail Egyptian Hebrew Hanukkah (festival of lights), the ancient Roman cosmologies that are preserved in ancient Greek only. feast of light (Sol Invictus), the Christian Christmas or the Alexander the Great, a student of Aristotle, is also known Germanic Yule that all mark the beginning of a new yearly to have brought Vedic knowledge to Europe, but there is no cycle. reason to assume there did not exist previous knowledge Precession or at least the phenomena associated with it exchange. And some of the numbers specifically mentioned also appear to have been known already by the Egyptians, by Plato, such as the ideal amount of people that make up a who divided 360 with the 1° of precession that occurs republic, correspond to prominent numbers in the sexa- every 72 years, which made them obtain the 5 extra days gesimal number system. So both Plato and Aristotle must they added to the 360-day calendar in order to obtain a full have known about these ancient worldviews, however year (Sellars 2007: 138–163). And besides their fascination fragmented their knowledge might have been. with triangles, it were also these scholars that linked the It is therefore safer to assume that when it is said that the square (the remaining geometric shape in the depiction of ancient Greeks (Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Hipparchus, and the tropical zodiac) to the four winds as well as the four the Greco-Egyptian Ptolemy) developed either geometry or elements. trigonometry, what is meant is that they steadily started to Sketching the exact genealogy of zodiac systems reduce the sexagesimal system (base 60) that underlies remains difficult and we also do not know to what extent ancient cosmologies to the decimal system (base 10) that the ancient Greek philosophers knew about this genealogy. forms one branch of it (Chrisomalis 2010). Such explains, Common knowledge states that the tropical zodiac reached for example, why especially Ptolemy (Ashmand 1822) the West through the works of Hipparchus, a Hellenic would favor Aristotelian research into the causes and Greek that lived in the second century BC and thus temperaments of the elements, the celestial bodies and the 200 years after Plato, and Hipparchus is usually attributed zodiac, instead of deducing weather predictions or horo- to having invented trigonometry. Ptolemy (Ashmand scopes from the sexagesimal meanings attributed to 1822), a Greco-Egyptian who finalized the tropical zodiac numbers. as we know it in his , a companion to his Al- In any case, the zodiac, time and temperament or magest, did so only in the second century AD but by horoscopes were thus originally formulated in a sexagesi- continuing to use the sexagesimal number system. mal number system. And this number system, through the It is nonetheless certain that the Greeks maintained associated sciences of geometry and trigonometry, underlie contact with ancient Egyptian/Mesopotamian and Vedic the ancients’ ideas on cyclic time. Knowledge of the zodiac cultures. In Egyptian mythology, for example, it was Thoth thereby enabled the biggest invention of humankind: suc- (Sellars 2007), the spokesman of the Sun God Ra, and the cessful farming due to predictive knowledge of the tempo. deity associated with the moon, the calendar, and sciences In this regard, it is intriguing that dodecahedrons, pre- involving language, reason, and numbers, that made the sumably the fifth Platonic solid, and shaped in such a way lucky gamble to add 5 extra days. This deity became that the faces form pentagons, only become wide-spread known to the Greeks as Hermes, and his knowledge was material artifacts found all-over Europe within Gallo-Ro- written down in magical works such as the never found man settlements. Here, they have been suggested to “Book of Thoth” as well as in more material and today function as astronomic measurements of time that helped

123 614 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 determine sowing and harvesting times (Kurzweil 1956; essence of a thing coincides with its final goal, each Nouwen 1993, 1994; Mereaux-Tanguy 1975). Given the repeating cycle of change anew. gamble weather predictions in northern countries turned While the Pre-Socratics were mainly preoccupied with out to be, the materialized dodecahedrons were also used as identifying which of the elements came first and how they gambling dice. align in a sequence of order that determines their chain, and But regardless of the hard calculations of our ancients, while Plato explained most phenomena via his demiurge, astrology remains an inexact science. This is mainly due to Aristotle basically put an end to this theorizing by adding a it being on the one hand too observation-based and on the metaphysical theory of motion to the elements, one that other too theoretical or idealized. If astrology were an exact would determine Western Judeo-Christian theorizing on science, for example, we could simply retro-calculate when the elements, the planets and their motion well into the point zero of Aries was taken to mark the beginning of Middle Ages. For him, the endlessly repeating cycle is Spring, or when (point zero of) Sagittarius overlapped with assumed to follow unchanging or permanent principles, i.e. the winter solstice. It has been attempted (Schaefer 2002) metaphysical causes, reasons or motives (aitia) that inflict but such remains very difficult, not just because the number change in how matter moves in place and space (Table 3). systems, and the (amount of months, days, and the length The elements that make up matter are stable (the of hours of) have changed, but because such material cause). What changes is the way in which they requires a consensus views on when signs begin and how compose into substances (the formal cause) by internal long they last. Not all signs, for example, last exactly (harmonious and natural) and external (often conflicting 30 days (the sun is in Scorpio for 7 days, for example, and and unnatural) movements or forces (the efficient cause) occupies Virgo for 40), and the year does not last 360 days. which underlies the Cycle of all Coming and Becoming. What is more, the ancients knew this already, and Such motion eventually is driven by the final cause, that depending upon the rites of a culture they would either add coincides with the essence of a substance (the formal 5 extra uncounted and often considered unlucky days each cause) and all essences are moved or motivated by the year, or 15 days each 3 years, or a full month/moonth if perfection of the unmoved mover. So while things come deemed necessary to keep in line with their respective and go each cycle anew, the form that substances end up seasons. With so much theorizing, we can easily err with taking in a cycle is predetermined by their essence that 2.000 years or much more when we try to retro-calculate. coincides with their final goal. 3. We began this paper by saying how cosmologies Aristotle (Metaphysics V, 2–5) also introduced a perfect explain the nature of matter, space and time and suggested bodiless intellect, the unmoved mover, which he under- that notions on causality are mainly derived from how a stood as the first cause, one that ultimately drives all four particular cosmology defines time both linguistically and causes. And this primary cause that inflicts all change in mathematically. And in this section we demonstrated that the repeating cycle stands outside the physical or natural ancient time-keeping associates with a sexagesimal number realm (the cosmos), and is part of the metaphysical realm. system. In the sexagesimal system, all numbers from 1 to 9 So while the cosmos is in constant flux, how change occurs and later 0–9 are there; and it is a place-value system as (which form things take on, and which place they move to) mathematicians call it, meaning that each number has its and the entire directionality of the cycle is predestined and place in an ordered sequence. But not all numbers have an regenerated each cycle anew. And as said when we equal importance. Within magic geometry and trigonom- explained the fifth common structure of the ancient Greek etry, every number not merely finds its place inside a linear cosmology, in a specific reading of Aristotle, this unmoved line up, each number also represents a part or moment, a mover equals true time. beginning or a conclusion of a small or grand cycle, be it a second, a minute, an hour, a month, a year, or the grand cycle. Some numbers therefore have more meaning than Judeo-Christian Cosmology and the Rise others, as is the case with the number zero, that marks the of beginning of a new timely cycle. In these ancient cosmologies, causality then, is neither The decimal number system is one part of the sexagesimal defined by things passed nor by things to come. It is true system (Chrisomalis 2010; Rudman 2007; Macey 1989), and eternal time on a grand scale, and relative time on a and in many ways a simplification thereof, just as the smaller scale, that define the cyclic beginning, (life)course, tropical zodiac can be understood as a simplification of the and ending of all things in the cosmos, and the ancients sidereal one. All one needs to do to go from a sexagesimal assumed that time does so beforehand. This enables a to a decimal system, is simply take away the magic and teleological worldview where necessity, inevitability and keep counting forward. Counting forward makes for a destiny rule, or, where, as Aristotle would demonstrate, the consecutive sequence of numbers where one follows the 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 615

Table 3 Aristotle’s causes for the cycle of coming and becoming or the constant and repetitive change of the physical world 1. The material cause All unformed/chaotic or raw matter is made from the elements that determine the The seed of a flower inherent and internal movement and potential of matter. 2. The formal cause The unformed matter’s inherent potential: what it can become (the archetypical form The seed has the potential to become a flower or pattern of something; the end of becoming). Relates to the definitional what-question on the essence (τὸ τί ἦνεναι or quidditas) of something. 3. The efficient cause The actualization of the potential through external movement (the sources of the The seed becomes a flower through fertile earth, water, change, the “change-producing of the changing”, the process of becoming). sunlight that gives warmth and light, … Relates to the mechanistic how-question. 4. The final cause The goal and function of something, what the potential is actualized for (“that for the The goal or function of the seed is to become a flower sake of which a thing is”) Relates to the teleological and functional what for-question Some notes: The material, formal and final causes can be understood as internal “movements” or “wantings”, while the efficient cause corresponds to external “movement,” and all four causal movements eventually are set in motion by the unmoved mover. The formal and final cause also overlap, because the essence of a substance is the same as its final goal Following Aristotle, scholars have combined these causes with specific research questions. What and what for questions respectively lead to definitional and functional explanations. Both are considered identical and with the rise of Cartesian and Newtonian mechanics, these questions are considered less scientific than the how question. This latter question guides mechanical approaches and thus studies on how objects move by external force (Aristotle (2008/350 BCE), Physics II, 3; Aristotle (2012/350 BCE) Metaphysics V, 2–5) other, and in so far as numbers represent numerical time, century, year 1 became associated with the by then time becomes one single cycle or a linear series of events. hypothesized birth of Jesus (Macey 1989). And indeed, cosmographies of the Middle Ages would Monotheistic religions, for their part, would take away steadily transform from circles to scales that would come to the magic that was associated with the ancient sexagesimal represent a singular that marks a linear succession cosmologies, for they would not tolerate any forms of what of historical events otherwise known as a chronology. they call idolatry. These religions, of course, come with Continuing to count forward is exactly what the their specific calendars, which we will not discuss indi- Romans, with the introduction of the Roman and Julian vidually. Suffice to say that the Judaic calendar did. This calendar was adopted by the early year begins in Spring and ends in Winter; Christians end Christians until it was replaced by the , the year with the bow and arrow man at or around the day an that happened as late as the sixteenth century. the winter solstice takes place in the Julian ; While the Greek cosmologies in many ways trace back to and the also used to end with the winter Far Eastern Hindu cultures, the Roman and solstice, but because of their calendar being lunar-based, became introduced after extensive culture contact with the they calculate around 29 days per month, and so their Levant. This contact occurred on the one hand due to months come a little early each year anew (Macey 1989). Jewish and other refugees coming into Europe from Egypt Here we first focus on the genealogy of the Semitic (the Exodus) and Babylon (the Babylonian Exile) that religions and examine how they entertain a cosmological became under Persian command, and on the other, the mix between sexagesimal/cyclic-based and linear/decimal- reconquering of these places first by Alexander the Great based cosmologies; and secondly we analyze how the and later by the Roman Caesars (Julius and Augustus), adoption of the Roman calendar and the Christianized after which they were reconquered by the by then almanac influenced the rise of semi-religious and semi- expanding Islam. Unlike ancient traditions, for the historical research known as chronology. Romans, the year commences on January 1st and such a 1. In what regards the origins of the three Semitic reli- shift marks the true beginning of decimal chronometry. The gions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), a straight Roman Julian calendar (established in 46 BC) took for year genealogy can be drawn from the Mesopotamian/Babylo- 1 the hypothesized birth of the city of Rome. In the fifth nian Marduk, i.e. the Jupiter god-king or Sagittarius bow

123 616 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 and arrow man that binds the monsters of the zodiac at his lifespan, and the ending or apocalypse of the cosmos. And feet thereby providing time to its peoples, to the Egyptian this in turn brings forth a chronological teleology (Table 1), Sun cult that is centered around Amon-Ra and his where what happened in the past is held responsible to spokesperson Thoth, who is the god of the moon, language, explain the present and to predict the future. The story of mathematics and chronometry (Champollion-Figeac 1832; Job, for example, as it is written in the Hebrew Tanakh and Pinch 2004). The Greeks associated Amon-Ra with Zeus the Christian Old Testament (The Bible 1997, Job 14, 5–6), and Thoth with Hermes (Trismegistus) that affiliates to explains how “A man’s days are numbered”, and how “he Mercury. From the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, a cannot live longer than the time You have set,” because straight genealogical line can be drawn to Persian only YHWH or the Christian god knows the numbers of Zoroastrianism/Mazdeism religion that in particular months a person has to live. Given that a human life is developed messianistic ideas. All are direct precursors of completely determined and predestined to occur at the the three Semitic religions. respective deities’ will, their spokespersons detail how to Derrida (1981), for example, already pointed out the live a virtuous life in the here and now, in order to, like resemblances there exist between Thoth, the spokesman of their deity, transcend time by being incorporated into a Ra, and Jesus, the spokesman of the Christian god. Simi- single and eternal afterlife. larly, Moses is one of the spokesmen of YHWH for Early Christians also retained practices associated with Judaism, and the prophet Mohammed is so for Allah in older sexagesimal systems. When analyzing the ancient Islam. People kill each other and themselves in the name of Greek, Hindu and other cosmologies, Eliade (1954: 53) these religions, but all worship the same deity, and it is also noted that it was their notion of time that underlies their said so in the different holy books. What differs is the overall holistic approach to the cosmos, where every importance they attribute to the different spokesper- microelement associates with meso- and macro-scale sons: Judaism does not accept Jesus as the new messiah, events and vice versa. In such a cosmology, individuals and Islam recognizes Mohammed as the final prophet. merely receive meaning as being part of a whole because The Semitic religions in association with the steady the idea of eternally recurring cycles annihilates any form adoption of the decimal number system all developed of individuality, creativity or newness, and in many ways, cosmologies that are both cosmogonic and eschatological it therefore annihilates any sense of history. Instead, each which means that they describe the beginning of the cos- hour, day, month, season or year finds its meaning only in mos that becomes understood as a unique creation act (and being part of the eternally returning complete year, and what is created is mater, space and time), by a single deity every instantiation thereof in the form of relative time is that stands outside creation (and, following Plato, the deity merely a reenactment or reincarnation of the first cycle that thus stands outside matter, space and time), and they pre- becomes repetitively commemorated and reincarnated in dict the cosmos’ equally unique apocalyptic ending. Not festivities and ceremonies, each time anew. However only is creation described as a chain or linear sequence of absolute and true time might be, on a meta-level this leads historical events that takes place in time, the holy scriptures to the annihilation of time because it is eternally repetitive. moreover provide their revelations by means of a historical Judeo-Christian tradition retains many elements that narrative. Unique individuals at certain places and in cer- correlate with these sexagesimal cosmologies. We give three tain moments in time receive specific knowledge on laws examples: the adoption of returning ceremonies, the use of that express the rules of behavioral and other conduct, a numerological secret languages, and the production of knowledge that these spokespersons subsequently spread almanacs. As Eliade (1954: 130) details, just as the Baby- across their peoples. lonians would repetitively commemorate the heroic acts of Judeo-Christian religion thus linearized the eternally Marduk, so: “…the Christian liturgical year is based upon a repeating cycles into a singular timeline, one that the periodic and real repetition of the Nativity, Passion, death, Christian scholar Eliade (1954: 143) characterizes as “a and Resurrection of Jesus, with all that this mystical drama straight line [that] traces the course of humanity from the implies for a Christian; that is, a personal and cosmic initial Fall to final Redemption”. In such a view, and dif- regeneration through reactualization in concerto of the birth, ferent from the ancient cosmologies, Eliade notes that any death, and resurrection of the Savior.” Equally, the 12 days historical event that takes place in time becomes relevant between Christmas and epiphany or Three-Kings-Day are a and of historical interest because of the uniqueness of its pre-configuration of the 12 months of the year to come, and character. each day has long been considered predictive of the weather It is such thinking that makes chronometrics or the for each coming month (Eliade 1954: 65). Even the death of simple measurement of time become chronological, where Jesus, which for Christians marks the taking away of the sin individual and unique events in time become chained (eating from the apple of the tree of knowledge), provides a together to explain the origin or beginning, the duration or fresh start each Spring anew with Easter. 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 617

The Hebrew and the early Christians also practiced used a sexagesimal number system, but rather than finding several kinds of numerology, where letters that make up meaning in the numerical cycles themselves, he was pri- words or names are added numerical values and the sum of marily interested in synthesizing sexagesimal timekeeping the numbers of a word are correlated to specific events in with Aristotelian causality, a practice that was followed by time, they are presumed to have predictive power, or they the Christians who had insufficient or no knowledge of the get a positive/negative or sacred/profane connotation. The sexagesimal-based cosmologies. practice associates with sexagesimal number systems, The practice of producing almanacs is very old. From where numbers receive their meaning by how they fit into 2.000 BC onward, the ancient Hindu, Babylonians, and or enable to calculate larger numbers, and traditionally, the Egyptians, started to produce them on a yearly basis, and numbers 6 or 60 have a prominent role. Christians for their with the Greeks and especially the Romans, calendars part would actively counter the number 6, and, as such would become widespread, not only amongst scholars, but battle the older numerological values. For Jewish scholars, amongst all citizens of the empire (Porceddu et al. 2008; the number 6 still has a positive connotation because of the Livingstone 2012). These almanacs provided the days and 6 days of creation, but for the Christians, the number 6, or a months of the year and the signs to which they correspond. series thereof, such as 666 or 616 correlate with all bad They listed the beginning of the seasons, predicted sunsets things, including the devil or the anti-Christ (i.e. the and sunrises, the moon cycles, estimated eclipses, and they number of the “Beast” as described in the Bible, Revelation provided information on harvest and sowing times of crops 13: 1–18, which moreover can be interpreted as a reference as well as the dates of specific festivities and ceremonies. to an older zodiac, apparently one based upon 10 signs). And based upon the importance that was given to the Numerology furthermore consorts with studies of geome- numbers or the commemorations, distinctions were made try, the search for the Adamic or divine language (see between lucky and unlucky days (hemerology), or periods Gontier 2009); and magic that provided the foundations for in the month (menology). A yearly almanac thus provided early alchemy where, in secret societies, scholars tried to an aid to farming and it suggested the rules of behavioral transform the elements whilst reciting magical spells such conduct. Today, we associate such horoscopes with as Abracadabra which literally translates to “I create as I superstition, but for the ancients and the scholars of the speak” and thus with attempts at becoming as god. middle ages, these were predictive tools. The rules for Numerology was extremely fashionable in the first 5 cen- prediction were formulated by Ptolemy whose work turies and performed by Gnostics who were either covert became translated in Arab in the eighth century and in “crypto”-Jews or sectarian Christians (De Libera 1995), Latin in the twelth. and both were often prosecuted by the church as heathens 2. Over the years, Christian almanacs would add and for their creative interpretations of the scriptures. But from delete events, and the acknowledgement that historical the tenth century onward, scholars such as Thomas of events change over time again strengthened the idea that Aquinas, Raymond Lull, and Dante Alighieri would freely time and causality do not form a returning cycle of the synthesize element thinking with Christian thought. same and similar, but a linear and sequential series of The politicization of the church and the Christianization unique events, a sequence that can be captured chrono- of Europe opened the way for practices where not only the metrically by dividing time into a past, present and future. life of Jesus Christ became commemorated, but numerous Such chronometrics founded historical research which for local heroes would be turned into “saints”. This can be the scholars of the Middle Ages mainly encompasses a understood as attempts to convert the “heathens” of Celtic, chronological investigation, and chronologies became Gallo-Roman and Germanic descent, and such cyclic depicted in uni-linear timelines. idolatry would eventually lead to internal disputes that Yearly almanacs would come to serve as historical were one of the factors for the reformation movements of documents wherefrom Christian chronicles were written. the sixteenth century. Chronicles are semi-religious, semi-historical works on the To tell which day correlates with which saint’s com- act of creation and the subsequent history of humans, from memoration, the Christians would adopt the practice of Adam and Eve onward. One such example is the Book of producing almanacs. Almanacs are not a Christian inven- Chronicles, today known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, tion, it also has sexagesimal roots and it is associated with published in 1493 in both Latin and German, and written numerology (which probably derived from it), ceremonial by Hartmann Schedel. Amongst other things, this “world repetitiveness and the zodiac-based study of the tempo and history” book describes the origin of the major European temperament. As Ptolemy had shown, the zodiac enables cities and gives the non-evolutionary genealogical pedi- knowledge of the weather and knowledge on horoscopes grees and thus trees of their major leaders. The chronicle that lend insight into the general Age-related zeitgeist as furthermore opens with a detailed multi-illustrated well as personality traits of individuals or cities. Ptolemy description of the Judeo-Christian religion’s 6 days of 123 618 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 creation. The final illustration of these creation days Following Aristotle, the Christian god is argued to have (Fig. 3) provides a good cosmographic summary of the neither cause nor movement, and following Plato, he is cosmology endorsed by the Christian scholars. eternal or, stated otherwise, he is the only one above space The illustration depicts a series of circles around the and time. geocentric and thus Ptolemaic earth that appears to be In the corners, and in a clockwise direction, we find the drawn upside down. Following Plato and Aristotle’s lineup four cardinals (Subsolanus or East, Auster or South, Ze- of the elements, earth is surrounded by water, air and fire phyrus or West, and Aparctias or North) that, when viewed (the atmosphere). After the elements, the presumed perfect upside down, somewhat align with older cosmographies. circular orbits of celestial bodies are depicted (the Moon, Besides the zodiac, that places Aries completely out of sync Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), followed to the right, and the planets, they mark the only remnants of by the tropical zodiac. With the zodiac, we reach the ancient timekeeping of which knowledge appears to have hypothesized firmament: the division between the physical been refuted, lost or unknown to the illustrator. and metaphysical or transcendental, which is assumed to be While ancients believed that the complete cycle separated from one another by a crystal ceiling. Above the recommenced each Great Year anew, according to Judeo- crystal ceiling we find Aristotle’s prime mover, the first Christian religion, matter, space and time are created by a causal principle that sets everything in motion. And above deity only once and in but 6 days. What we see in the the prime mover, we find the Christian god in heaven illustration is day 7, where the Christian god supposedly surrounded by angels, saints and other supernatural beings. rested and looked down upon his creation.

Fig. 3 Cosmography of the Nuremberg Chronicle (Schedel 1493) that combines ancient Greek wisdom with the Judeo- Christian writings. Obtained from Google Books that is under a Creative Commons License at https://books.google. pt/books/content?id= IeUOAQAAMAAJ&hl=nl&pg= PT15&img=1&zoom=3&sig= ACfU3U1Wph_ z0inFWQNMICjlvD- gOMWKXw&ci=152%2C371% 2C765%2C923&edge=0

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So what happened after day 7? Instead of cyclically 80 until death. This makes 7, 15, 39, 50, and 80 special recommencing, day 7 was followed by day 8, that was numbers. These stages mimic the Ages and again follow no followed by day 9, and the days would line up to form a regularity or uniformity other than the length of the years year, that was followed by another, and so on. After that follow the calendrical time. So while practices and explaining the creation days, Schedel therefore goes on to ideas continued to associate with those of older cosmolo- give a chronological timeframe that is based upon calendar gies, much of their original meaning was lost and new years that he distinguished into 6 different historical Ages interpretations, in sync with the Judeo-Christian genesis of the world (from the Greek Aeon). These go from Adam and apocalypse stories, were given. Afterwards, Schedel to the flood, 1.656 years; to the birth of Abraham, lists the formation of the major European cities and gives 292 years; to the beginning of the Kingdom of David, the non-evolutionary genealogical pedigrees of their 940 years; to the Babylonian captivity, 485 years; to the founders. destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the birth of Circular illustrations such as Schedel’s cosmography Jesus Christ, 590 years; to the end of the World, which only would on the one hand come into disuse due to the rise of God knows. Macro-Ages were thus calculated upon a lit- the heliocentric worldview; and on the other hand, chains eral interpretation of the Biblical texts, and therefore of being would continue to expand and include more and became interpreted independently of the ancients’ uniform more elements in association with the rise of the periodic estimations of the Ages of the Zodiac (2.160 years) and the table. Such chains of being would become linearized into return of the Complete Year (25.920 years). scala naturae that, on a meso-level, included more and Schedel’s different estimations add up to 3.963 years, more genera and species. The term derives from a passage and when we add to that the numerical time from year 1 in Aristotle’s work where he mentioned the idea of a “scale onward (the hypothesized birth of Jesus), which for Sche- of ascent”. For Aristotle, this related to his idea of all life del corresponds to 1.493, i.e. the year wherein he published forming a chain that was subjected to an eternal cycle of his chronicle, the world is estimated to be 5.456 years old. coming and becoming, but for the Christians, scales Here lie the roots of what we today call “young earth became stairways to heaven. Following Plato’s Allegory of creationism” that, given the passing of numerical time the Cave and Aristotle’s three soul theory, scala naturae since the Middle Ages, and with some minor recalcula- order the elements and creatures based upon their level of tions, currently assumes the earth to be around 6.000 years perfection, a perfection that is measured by the kind of soul old. Note that the lifespans of the different ages of creatures have (a vegetative, animalistic or intellectual numerical time have no uniformity. The years, however, one), which defines how close they find themselves to the are calculated as Julian calendar years and these do have Christian deity. Man, having been created in his image and regularity: 365 days per year that are intermitted with a sharing his ability to think and speak was considered to be 366th day every 4 years. The reason for the jumpy his- the summon of creation, only to be outcompeted by torical chronology is that in their theistic worldview, supernatural beings such as saints, angels and God. historical events do not need to follow regular laws, they What is interesting in this regard is that early historians are expressions of divine will. were preoccupied with reconstructing the chronology of Nonetheless, in true accordance with more ancient the historical time of man, and such chronologies were sexagesimal-based cosmologies, where every hour or day numbered since the days of creation onward, but the scales repeats, represents and perhaps even embodies a part of a that depict genera and species would remain void of any greater cycle, Schedel noted that the 6th age can be con- such numerical calculations. With the rise of chronologies sidered “the last hour”, which he predicted could end any such as the one written by Schedel, only the history of man day soon with the promised apocalypse. In line with the since creation would become numbered, and these days preaching of the Church, he added a 7th age that runs were numbered because of the predicted apocalypse. parallel with the 6th that contains all the peoples at rest (the Scholars simply did not assume that genera and species dead), of which he predicted that their souls would resur- also underwent changes in history. Instead, and in line with rect in the 8th age, the moment when all return to paradise their Genesis story, all living creatures were considered to for all eternity. This therefore corresponds with the end of have been created in their fixed state by God during the historical time. early days, and named by Adam. At most, they were Continuing both the macro-, meso- and micro-divide of considered innocent and void of sin, and their history ancient cosmologies and horoscope formulations on the therefore remained unchanged. temperaments, and in true ancient style, Schedel also di- In sum, the cosmology that most influences our linear vided human life into another 6 (st)ages, going from notion of time is the Judeo-Christian one, where both time infancy, from birth to the age of 7; over childhood, to 14; to and causality become understood not as chain but as a maturity, 38; and youth, 49; to timely, 79; and spent, from linear and sequential series of historical events, a sequence 123 620 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 that can be captured chronometrically by dividing time into causality thinking. Secondly, we investigate how the a past, present and future, and one that can be calculated by transitions in physics and causality thinking impact the rise calendrical years. Every event becomes historically unique, of natural history and when and where in the scales of but what happened in the past (the sin) has a consequence nature, numbers do become added. on the present (the fall) and the future (the return to par- 1. The problem of getting the numbers of yearly time adise). Events come to predict a chronological teleology, right and keeping them in line with the seasons (crucial for because their deity has determined all events that have and agriculture) and associated festivities (necessary for the will take place, from creation to the apocalypse. This leads church to maintain credibility as a political institution) to a teleological determinism, because the future is to some remained problematic. New astronomical measurements extend predictable because humans have received knowl- and calculations were therefore often made at the request of edge of the sequence of events that have and will occur, the church, which eventually led to the reform of the Julian through their respective spokesmen, in the form of both to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. The reform mostly language and mathematics. In their theistic worldviews, the involved a recalculation of Easter (the resurrection of deity can intervene at any moment in creation, at will, and Jesus) that used to coincide with the first full moon after the no regularity therefore can or has to be found in the way by Spring equinox (the Hebrew Passover: the liberation from which historical events take shape. That is why the lifespan Egyptian slavery by Moses). of the different ages can be jumpy or what naturalists Such recalculations would start to question the Greeks’ would come to call catastrophic. However, the “steadiness” geocentric worldview, a worldview that the church had of a year was simply taken for granted. Such chronometrics adopted in their teachings. Basing his views upon old Ira- in turn underlie the introduction of historical research nian manuscripts, Copernicus (1473–1543) was the first which for the scholars of the Middle Ages mainly scholar of the Middle Ages to suggest that the earth is a encompasses a chronological investigation into the sphere that rotates around its own axis, and that our globe sequence of events over numerical time, and chronologies in turn revolves around the sun, resulting in the sun (or a became depicted into linear timelines. point close to it) and not the earth being the center of the universe. His theory can be summarized by the 7 postulates he formulated in an unpublished work that he distributed Natural History: The Consequences of the Decimal amongst his colleagues (Table 4). He divulgated the work Number System before he wrote his magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium) The conceptualization of time as a single and uni-linear that was published posthumously in 1543 (Copernicus sequence of historical events is by and large determined by 1939), in the very same city of Nuremberg where Schedel Judeo-Christian cosmology. This unilineal scale can be had written his Book of Chronicles about a hundred years conceptualized both as jumpy, which is the case with the earlier. different ages since creation (historical time), and uniform, Copernicus dedicated his work to Pope Paul III, because because eventually, the jumps in historical time are mea- the church had asked him to refine the equinoxes, and this sured over uniform years that are calculated in accordance research made him obtain knowledge of the earth’s pre- with the Julian calendar (true, yearly time). cession and its associated phenomena. The pole star, the In what regards yearly time, physicists and astronomers equinoxes and the zodiac appear to shift over time, but would continue to understand it as resulting from the study Copernicus says they are fixed. It is the earth’s rotation of planetary motion, and they would come to understand around its own axis and the earth’s rotation around the sun the perfect harmony they presumed in celestial motion to that appears to make “the firmament and highest heaven” be an expression of God’s omnipotence that they readily rotate while, for Copernicus, they do not undergo any portrayed in their cosmographies. While chronicles such as motion. He distinguished between three earthly motions: an the one written by Schedel started to number the days of annual rotation around the sun in the order of the signs of human history, none of the circles or scales would include the zodiac, the daily rotation of the earth around its own a numerical timeframe based upon calendar years. The axis, and the earth’s wobble around its own axis, which he reason is that Christians assumed both celestial motion and called the motion of declination (calculated at 23.5°). He the scale of nature to be fixed and created in its present was unable to provide a reason for the latter, but he com- form. Here we first describe how the shift from a geo- pared the poles to magnetized iron needles that always centric to a heliocentric worldview, the introduction of the point toward a single spot in the universe. He also believed pendulum clock, and new notions of automata underlies that the sun itself did not revolve. transitions into matter, space and time thinking and we With his theory, Copernicus did not so much want to investigate how they underlie mechanical and uniform question the tenets of Christian religion, but the Greek 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 621

Table 4 Copernicus’ 7 postulates of his heliocentric worldview “1. There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres 2. The center of the earth is the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere 3. All the spheres revolve about the sun as their mid-point, and therefore the sun is the center of the universe 4. The ratio of the earth’s distance from the sun to the height of the firmament is so much smaller than the ratio of the earth’s radius to its distance from the sun that the distance from the earth to the sun is imperceptible in comparison with the height of the firmament 5. Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth’s motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged 6. What appears to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion 7. The apparent retrograde and direct motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the earth’s. The motion of the earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens” Fragment from Copernicus unpublished work, the Commentariolus (in Rosen 1971: 58–59)

ideas on uniformity on which they rested, for as he noted: Nothing of this necessarily has to do with timekeeping “Our ancestors assumed, I observe, a large number of (although it can), but with the study of motion of matter; celestial spheres for this reason especially, to explain the how uniform that is and against which (numerical) frame of apparent motion of the planets by the principle of regu- reference we calculate it. That is why Galileo Galilei larity. For they thought it altogether absurd that a heavenly (1564–1642), after proving the earth’s rotation by exam- body, which is a perfect sphere, should not always move ining the ebb and flow of the sea, took on the above uniformly. They saw that by connecting and combining question and introduced the two new sciences of matter in regular motions in various ways, they could make any body motion: material science and kinematics in his Discourses appear to move to any position.” (Copernicus, Commen- and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New tariolus, in Rosen 1971: 57) Sciences (Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche Intorno a The Greeks never assumed that all planets move at equal Due Nuove Scienze). Galilei (1974) defined uniform motion speed, but they assumed that there was regularity in the as motion that over an equal period of time covers an equal movement of celestial bodies, and geometric regularity in distance. the shapes of the universe. This uniformity was found by Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), a student of Tycho Brahe assuming that all movement was circular and that all pos- and contemporary of Galilei, introduced the laws of plan- sible shapes are contained in a circle. 360° geometry etary motion around the sun and demonstrated that planets enabled them to understand a day as something that takes 2 not only orbit in ellipses instead of perfect circular times 12 h, and a year as the sun’s regular movement motions, but at different speeds. This did not make him through the 12 signs of the zodiac. Copernicus (Commen- think that the universe was any less perfect though. Kepler tariolus, in Rosen 1971: 59), however, after demonstrating in his The Mystery of the Shape or Cosmography of the that earth has 3 different movements, hastened to say that: Cosmos (Mysterium Cosmographicum, 1596) still held “Having set forth these assumptions, I shall endeavor immense fascination for Plato’s solids and how they define briefly to show how uniformity of the motions can be saved the perfect geometric shape of the universe, the planets and in a systematic way.” their motions (Dreyer 1953) and he went on to develop his It takes 186 days, for example, to go from the vernal to own solids (today known as the Kepler solids). He even the autumnal equinox, but 179 days to go from autumn to presented himself as a new spokesman, stating that he spring. This implies that neither Earth, nor its orbit around received his ideas during an epiphany which inspired him the sun, is perfect and uniform, and what is at stake is thus to demonstrate how beautiful and complex the Christian the question of how uniform motion of matter in space and deity had made the universe. time really is. With Earth and all other planets revolving Descartes (1596–1650) however was less optimistic. around the sun, and as Kepler would demonstrate, in an The advances his contemporaries, Galilei and Kepler, had elliptic way, it brought forth a question of uniformity and made in physics, made him create doubt about the truth speed and how to measure it (by the equinoxes, the fixed value of ancient knowledge. Instead, he sought refuge in stars, mass or its weight, or later heat, light or radioactive rationalism, and argued that man is entirely capable of decay). thinking space and time by using his intellect. And with the

123 622 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 introduction of his two-dimensional coordinate system, he matter can also be at rest in which case it continues to have would straighten the circle out once and for all. duration) and for particular movements of particular Descartes had set forth to solve the mysteries of physics, objects, he pointed out that we make use of the decimal all by himself, in a work titled Essay on the world and light number system, while for the duration of all things (the sum (Traité du monde et de la lumière). He never published the of these movements), we compare them to celestial motion work because, on the one hand, the condemnation of and we call it time (based upon years). Galileo’s work made him cautious, and on the other hand, “Now some attributes or modes are in the very things as he explains in part 6 of his Discourse on the method to of which they are said to be attributes or modes, while rightly steer one’s reason, by searching for the truth in the others are only in our thought (in nostra tantum sciences (Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa cogitatione). For example, when time (tempus)is raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences), he came to distinguished from duration taken in the general sense realize his naivete´, because to prove his ideas, numerous (duratione generaliter) and called the number of experiments would have to be conducted for which he had movement (numerum motus), it is simply a mode of neither the lifetime nor the money. thought (modus cogitandi). For the duration which we In the work, Descartes later elaborated (1998, Dis- find to be involved in movement is certainly no dif- course, part 5), he attempted to explain how the universe ferent from the duration involved in things which do could have formed gradually out of a material chaos,by not move. This is clear from the fact that if there are natural laws, and reasoned that “… if we think of material two bodies moving for one hour, one slowly and the things as developing gradually out of chaos, their nature is other quickly, we do not reckon the time to be greater easier to grasp than if we considered them only in their in the latter case than in the former, even though the present completed form. And there is nothing wrong with amount of movement may be much greater. But in believing that God could have brought them about in that order to measure the duration of all things (omnium manner, starting with chaos, establishing the laws of nat- durationem), we compare their duration with the ure, and then allowing nature to develop in a normal way in greatest and most regular motions, which give rise to accordance with those laws.” years and days, and call this duration ‘time’ (hancque Descartes was thus opposing theism that assumes that the durationem tempus vocamus). Yet nothing is thereby Christian God created the universe in its fixed form and that added to duration, taken in its general sense, except a he intervenes in creation (matter, space and time) at will. mode of thought.” (Descartes 1998, Principles I: 57) Instead, he introduced a deist position, the Christian god had created the universe and the natural laws, but once created, This definition of relative/numerical and true time based neither the cosmos nor the laws of physics require divine upon years is very close to Plato’s, who defined true time intervention because they work perfectly mechanical, as (the complete year) as the sum of all motions when they machines. Descartes reasoned by analogy, that just as a body come to a head, and this time was a model shaped by the can function perfectly by its organic parts and by the circu- Demiurge in the image of eternity. Scholars debate whether lation of the blood, so the natural world can function this was a realist or idealist position, but Descartes leaves perfectly according to natural laws. Human reason was an no doubt: we add nothing by stating things like this but a addition, provided by God, and by analogy of his mind/body mode of thought, a mental concept or idea. Both numerical divide, God did not have to intervene in his creation (the solid time derived from number (duration) or time derived from body that the universe was) but could remain outside of it. the motion of celestial bodies are therefore “mere” Instead of having been created wholesomely, he assumed properties or mental attributes we give to matter, and that the natural world could have developed gradually out of space too is merely an attribute of the mind. material chaos, from simple to more complex forms, and in In one of the appendixes of his Discourse, De La Géo- that regard, he was greatly fascinated by transmutations such métrie (On Geometry), Descartes went on to suggest that as the formation of glass from the ashes of fire. we track how matter moves from within a two-dimensional Descartes (1998, Principles II, 10–16) materialized coordinate system (Fig. 4). Merely analyzing the system place and space by understanding the cosmos as a material from a visual point of view, we find that point zero, called plenum which means that there is no void or vacuum the origin, marks the middle between unreal, regressing (space), only matter (“the extension in length, breadth and and real, progressing numbers. If we let x stand for time depth that constitutes a space is exactly the same as the and y for space (or vice versa), then what is formed in extension that constitutes a body”, and he of course sub- quadrant I, the quadrant of the real numbers, is the material scribed to the existence of ether as being part of matter). plenum, and any movement of his corpuscular matter can In so far as matter exists, it has duration. Duration he be tracked along the coordinating axes from point zero defined as the movement of matter (though he assumed that onward. Such tracking enables the measurement of 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 623

Radically opposing his views to Aristotle, he rejects the formal and final cause that asks about the essence and final goal of a thing, i.e. their inner wantings or inner move- ments, and argues that science can only answer the how- question that asks about the external or efficient cause of movement. Only how and from what A goes to B becomes relevant; Descartes (1998, part 6): For it seems to me that reasons are interlaced in such a way that just as the last are proved by the first, which are their causes, so the first are proved by the last, which are their effects. Don’t think that I am here committing the fallacy that logicians call ‘ar- guing in a circle’; for experience makes most of these effects quite certain, so that the causes from which I deduce them serve not so much to prove them as to explain them—indeed, on the contrary, it is the effects that prove the causes. We can either follow causes to their effects, or effects to their causes, which answers the mechanical question of how matter moves by external force. But here is where he Fig. 4 A Cartesian coordinate system got stuck in providing his all-encompassing theory of duration, the matter that is in motion. Consequently, any physics. To demonstrate the sequence going from A to B or movement of matter in the Materia Plenum can only go vice versa, one needs to conduct experiments that provide rectilinearly upward or forward. proof for which he neither had enough time nor money. In Both space and time, for Descartes, as well as numbers any case, for Descartes, all external motion can be (see e.g. Principles, I, 57–58) are mental concepts that we explained by plotting how A causes B, and in the absence attribute to the matter in motion, to enable us to coordinate of external force, there is no internal wanting, but objects and measure it, and just like the unreal numbers, also the x will move uniformly in a straight line (what we today know and y axes stand outside the material plenum. The other as Newton’s first law). From within his deductionist quadrants are unreal. When we compare or interpret these approach, Descartes (1998, Principles II 37–39) thus from within older cosmologies, the other quadrants can be continued to make several assumptions which he formu- understood as “chaos”, the “underworld”, “the dead”, or lated in terms of his 3 laws of motion. “God” that all stand outside the real system (i.e. the Descartes laid the foundation for a purely physicalist physical world of matter that “occupies” “space” and view, where the study of matter, space and time becomes “time”, or what we would call spatio-temporal existence). reduced to the study of matter in motion, and physical laws From a historical point of view, quadrant I from point zero become quantifiable. He also laid the foundation for onward marks the beginning of history (the birth of the city mechanical thought, by focusing on how a whole is of Rome, the birth of Jesus, or the birth of the cosmos in a determined by the functions of its parts. As such, he did not big bang theory), and everything before point zero becomes deny that bodies can have an internal movement, in fact, either “pre”-historic, “pre”-cosmic, or unreal. bodies can become decomposed into their organs, and their In other words, Descartes’ coordinate system describes mechanical functioning explains how and from what a body the plane by two coordinates, x and y, and has as main becomes like a machine. Both views imply a reductionist purpose to understand the non-coordinate, axiomatic stance because a whole is the sum of its parts. And with Euclidean geometry (shapes or as Euclid’s work on such stance, space is merely the sum of all matter, and time geometry was called: the elements) from within the alge- is merely the sum of all duration (of matter in motion) set braic system (numbers). The x and y axis thereby become against celestial motion. Consequently, the study of straight number-lines set apart from one another at a uni- causality becomes defined as the study of how A, the cause, form distance. In such a system, we can track how A goes leads to B, the effect, and the (assumed) linear sequence of to B, and we can backtrack the motion, by investigating events going from A to B provides the causal explanation. how B comes from A, and that is exactly what his scientific B minus A provides the duration which is expressed by a method implies. linear decimal number line.

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As scientific as it all sounds, Descartes continued to such is not the case (for that reason he would introduce his invoke the existence of the Christian God and used it to universal law of gravitation, but here we focus on his ideas prove the certainty of his thoughts. While duration of all on time). “All motions can be accelerated and retarded, but matter in motion defines all being or all existence, his the flow of absolute time cannot be changed. The duration cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) places reason or perseverance of the existence of things is the same, above the realm of being and gives priority to it. This can whether their motions are rapid or slow or null; accord- only be explained from within his ideas that both being and ingly, duration is rightly distinguished from its sensible thinking are of divine origin, and that humans share these measures and is gathered from them by means of astro- properties with their god, making them become as god. nomical equation.” (Newton in Schliesser 2013: 91) And this in turn expresses the typical zeitgeist of moder- In other words, and placed more in a day to day context, nity: man is glorified as a rational being entirely capable of Newton distinguished between time understood as the knowing all the mysteries the world entails, he can make study of motion of objects, and absolute time. The former inferences about the past, and he can even predict the is always relative, because a turtle or a jaguar, for example, future. Scientifically speaking, he can distinguish truth move at different speeds. But this does not take away from from falsehood, and morally speaking, he knows right from the fact that both move according to number, where each wrong. As such, he can even turn the world into a better number uniformly follows the other; the numbers them- place. selves do not change. Just as the speed by which a turtle or Newton would put it all together and found the field of a jaguar moves has no impact on their entire lifespan, and classical physics. He agreed with Descartes that when we though their speeds and directions in which they move can use terms such as time, space, place and motion, we refer to be accelerated or slowed down, absolute time is not quantities of objects that enable measurement, and more impacted by the different relative times there are. Absolute inspired by empiricism, he understood these quantities as time, though “gathered by astronomical equation”, is sub- mere inferences we make from our sense onto ordinated to mathematical number. For that reason, those objects. Nonetheless, he distinguishes these notions absolute time is irreversible. Even if we were to backtrack from an absolute space and an absolute time (Schliesser all the steps we have taken since , we would not 2013). He defined absolute time as duration understood as a be going back in time, we would merely turn around the “uniform flow of time” by itself, according to number, motions we did the day before in a later period in time. without reference to any external objects. Relative time is As such, absolute time as duration gives an any external measurement of this duration, by, for example, inevitable rectilinear directionality, one that became the study of the motion of objects or celestial bodies from understood as going from the simple small numbers to the which we derive tempo. Newton in Schliesser (2013: 90): complex bigger ones, and one that therefore progresses, along a given and rigid number system that undergoes no Absolute, true, and mathematical time, in and of itself change. Herein lies the foundation for what I call and of its own nature, without reference to anything mechanical teleology in Table 1. In an absolute space and external, flows uniformly and by another name is time, and with perfect uniform mechanical laws, the future called duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is predictable, and the past can be inferred. is any sensible and external measurement (exact or It is somewhat ironic that the Greek true time, which for nonuniform) of duration by means of motion; such a them coincided with the Complete Year that was measure—for example, and hour, a day, a month, a researchable by number, now becomes subjected to that year- commonly used instead of true time. very same number, the rectilinear decimal number system Note that the year, month, day or hour merely become an as plotted in a Cartesian coordinate system (or for that example by which we can measure true time, while true matter a multidimensional vector space when we add more time is absolute and mathematical because it is defined by dimensions). It is the number system that provides uni- number. While Plato and Descartes understood any notion, formity and homogeneity to anything we call time. It is idealist or realist, of true time as based upon celestial also here that Newton deviates from Descartes, who asso- motion (for simplicity, let’s call it calendrical), Newton ciated omnium durationem or the duration of all things with equates true time with the decimal numerical system, and timekeeping which he considers the most uniform one, the Greek and Latin tempo merely becomes one measure while duratione generaliter refers to the number of a par- amongst many. ticular movement (numerum motus) calculated by number He reasons as follows. Different celestial bodies and by the intellect. different day to day objects move at different speeds, so Schliesser (2013: 97) points out that with Newton “all there might not be a uniform motion by which we can moments in time have identical fixed relations” and as measure these tempos (not as weather but as speed). But such, Newton overrules the idea that a deity can make and 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 625 bend time at its will, or even “move temporal places Copernicus’ work, provided a new method that enabled around”, thereby making time or space irregular because he him to convert the various ancient calendars of the Per- assumed that “just as the order of parts of time is sians, Babylonians, and the ancient Greeks (sexagesimal unchangeable, so, too, is the order of the parts of space”. and decimal-based) to the Julian calendar. This facilitated The latter founded Newton’s notion of an absolute space. It not only integration but also comparison of the differ- is also a deistic move, but while Descartes placed the ent time periods of ancient chronicles and calendars with Christian deity outside the material plenum, for Newton, the Christian one, and it facilitated the conversion of the Christian deity, though he does not coincide with chronicles into numerical chronologies. The work would duration and space, nonetheless endures and is present, in much later be revised by Newton (1728), in his essay on all possible worlds, because in his assumed omnipotence, The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended. the Christian deity cannot be never/nothing and nowhere. Coming to terms with the fact that the history of western This can even be understood as a pantheistic move, one man changes over time, and that it differs from the history also made by Spinoza in his criticisms of Descartes, where of other cultures and ethnicities, what early natural history God is considered to be part of everything, all the time and students, understood as moral philosophers, historical lin- everywhere. guists, ethnologists, and historians (of science) focused on, In sum, with Descartes and Newton and the rise of was finding the principles or laws that govern these his- classical physics, numbers become equal in the sense that torical changes. Such principles would be defined by they are merely defined by their position in a linear lineup, seriations or stages of history much more so than that they and especially the Cartesian two-dimensional coordinate were based upon number. The Julian and Gregorian cal- system visualizes how they are set apart at an equal dis- endar as well as timeframes provided in chronicles such as tance. It is important to note that this linear mathematical the ones introduced by Schedel and Scalinger were simply order gives a different sense of directionality than a sexa- taken for granted. gesimal number system, where numbers obtain their Moral philosophers such as Adam Smith, Thomas meaning by the way in which they represent and enable to Hobbes, David Hume, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, for calculate the cycle, and it differs from the non-uniform example, as well as early historical linguistics and eth- Judeo-Christian notion of historical time that is ruled over nologists, would investigate the natural history of by divine will. Linear mathematics itself determines the languages and cultures, and they intertwined these ideas sequence and this also gives a different notion of causality: with moral and political thought on how to organize society 2 logically follows 1, and 3 cannot precede 2. In a linear (for an overview, see Gontier 2009). In association, they sequence of events, A causes an effect or outcome B, but would provide speculative seriations of how man devel- the outcome B cannot cause A, and the reason given is that oped from a “primitive lawless state” to “civilized A, the cause, has antecedence and precedence over B, the industrial and rational men”. Today, we know such seri- effect, that has contiguity. In other words, A precedes B in ations that associate with the introduction of the both time and space. This causal sequence of events is thus nature/culture divide as developmental stage thinking or formulated in a spatial and timely fashion. 1 comes before historicism (for a critique, see Popper 1957). or earlier than 2 and 3 comes after or later. Such gives a The term “evolution” comes from the Latin evolvere, sense of linear time, a time that is no longer cyclical, but which means development or to unroll a script. In this one that becomes divided into a past, present and future. meaning it was used by preformationists to explain the 2. How then does all of this influence the rise of natural development of the individual from sperm or egg onward history research? Well, it would have been interesting if the as the unrolling of a divine script. But the term “develop- natural history students would have entered the scene ment” would also be used by the early natural history where the physicists had left it, but such is not the case. students, to explain how man developed from a state of Instead, they went through similar developments, and their nature, often understood as a paradise lost in line with works became an interesting mix between ancient Greek Biblical creation stories, to a state of culture. endeavors to find the scales and cycles that run through Adam Smith (1723–1790), for example, distinguished natural history, and Judeo-Christian endeavors to time between 4 developmental stages going from hunter-gath- history since creation, by way of establishing chronologies. ering to pastoralism, agriculture, and commerce/ These chronologies were originally based upon textual industrialism. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon interpretations of the Bible, and measured against calen- (1707–1788) and Johann Blumenbach (1752–1840) would drical time. As such, Christian calendrical time functioned develop racial theories wherein they attempted to seriate as a constant frame of reference. In his Opus novum de the different ethnicities, and these theories would assume emendatione temporum (New work on the amendment of principles of “progress” and “degeneration” to explain time) Joseph Justus Scaliger (1583), and drawing upon variation. And August Comte (Martineau 1865), one of the 123 626 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 founders of sociology, and also before the introduction of catastrophes such as the flood and prophecies on the evolutionary thought, characterized the natural history of inferno, and purgatory, especially as they were formulated Europe as having developed over three stages going from by Dante (who in turn was highly inspired by Islam) to the theological stage (characterized first by fetishism/tote- explain earth’s strata. In true ancient style, they investi- mism, then polytheism, and later monotheism), to the gated how the elements, land (earth), sea (water), wind metaphysical stage, and ending with the positivist/scientific (air), and heat (fire) lie at the origin of the earth’s layers. In stage where rational thought prevailed. their cosmogonies (which, like chronicles, are semi-reli- In scales like these, one can move up or down the lad- gious works on the origin of the cosmos), they investigated der, but that does not impact the flow or directionality of how the elements impact the earth, how they materialize increasing complexity. When early natural history students and erode, and how they bring forth the natural seriation of and later social Darwinists argued that modernity runs from earth’s stratigraphic layers as well as the fossilized species hunter-gatherers to farmers to industrialized men, they we find within them. While these seriations could be jumpy understood this sequence as law-like and given, and cul- and bumpy, with the works of Lyell (1830, 1832, 1833), tures with non-industrialized lifestyles became understood the endless cycles of began to resemble clock- as having regressed to a more “primitive” state, or as being works and catastrophism became replaced with “stuck” in time and still in need of the “given” or “pre- uniformitarianism that endorses a causal teleology, where dictable” “development”. Even before the introduction of the present presumably enables one to infer the past and to evolutionary thought, scala naturae were turned into predict the future. chronological seriations that did not so much provide a The geological strata follow a natural seriation, and this time frame but instead marked the underlying laws or stratification, as well as the fossils found within them, first patterns of historical change. In such views, one can ascent functioned as a record or natural chronology that was based or descent the ladders, but the series itself is given. more upon naming the various strata than that it was based Scala naturae were replaced by networks and trees and upon timing them according to number or calendrical the ancient Greek micro- meso- macro-distinctions that years. That rock strata and the fossil record actually present underlie the older scala naturae also started to function as a periods in time was only recognized by scholars such as division for the modern sciences. Physicists studied the Robert Hooke, William Smith and Charles Lyell. Both universe on a macroscale. On a microscale, chemists became recognized as relative time scales that for scholars examined how the elements relate to one another (by such as Darwin formed the foundation to speculate on the showing affinity), and how they can transform and trans- gradualness of evolution. Absolute dating of the geological mutate; and biological, societal and earthly change was time scale only finalized with the introduction of radio- studied on a mesoscale. But what is most interesting is that metric dating techniques, something that happened as late many of these chronologies understood as seriations lack as the 1950s (Braterman 2013). These absolute dates were any reference to an actual timeframe. formulated by physical constants on the hypothesized Such is also the case for the early work on the earth’s decay of the (half-)life cycles of various chemical minerals layers, performed by Nicholas Steno (1669: 214–215) for found inside the rocks and fossils. The years of these half- example, who argued that different strata result from dif- lives remain formulated in what are called Julian days. ferent deposits that contain different fossils. His analysis The rise of the geological time scale, expressed in names provided the principles of superposition, original horizon- (e.g. the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, tality, lateral continuity and cross-cutting relationships but etc.) rather than numbers, in many ways was something no real numerical timeframe. Instead, he investigated how entirely new. But seriation techniques had been used for natural solids are subjected to forces coming from their centuries to develop scala naturae that line up the ele- elements. All solid bodies, he argued, were once fluid, and ments, genera and species, and the supernatural beings their movement could be explained according to the Aris- based upon their level of perfection; and they were the totelian wantings of their elements, as well as force preferred means whereby moral philosophers and histori- induced by humans and the Christian deity. ans hypothesized on the laws or principles of change, and Time only became a problem with the rise of later ethnologists and linguists classified their data accordingly. emerging geological research. Gould (1987) and as he These timeless chronologies and seriations would be taken noted in the introduction to his Time’s arrow, Time’s Cycle, for granted by the early evolutionary scholars, and they by following Eliade (1954), demonstrated how early would be evolutionized by simply adding time. geologists such as Abraham Werner, Thomas Burnett and Greatly inspired by Lyell’s uniformitarianism, Darwin James Hutton went back to ancient Greek cosmologies (1859) was one of the first to speculate upon the rate of from which they borrowed their cyclic notions of time. evolutionary change. In his Origin, he did so by basing his Simultaneously they made use of Judeo-Christian views on calculations of generations of individuals, i.e. by 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 627 adding time to pedigrees and non-evolutionary genealogi- able to homogenize the process of evolution for all dif- cal trees. ferent species, and he homogenizes the estimated time for Originally, networks and trees demonstrated the struc- significant divergence to take place. tural order of nature (Gontier 2011), but with the Besides adding time, this also involves a switch from introduction of evolutionary thinking, these became the pedigree to tree-thinking (Gontier 2011), and that is exactly basic data whereupon natural history students would build what Haeckel did when he introduced the first real evolution- chronologies: timelines of evolution. For Darwin, genera- ary trees of life and mapped them unto the geological scale. tions of organisms and their gemulles (what we today Similarly, the unilineal chronological seriations of the call genes) become the universal constant whereby all early natural history scholars would become evolutionized evolutionary motion becomes measured, simply because by the early social Darwinists, who took the hypothesized one has to wait for one generation to bring forth another, developmental stages for evolved ones, and over the years, which immediately brings forth a sense of gradualism. they would try and add time. As such, the hypothesized While reproduction forms a hallmark of his theory of historical chronology of European settlers, going from descent with modification, in his examination thereof, he nomads to hunter gatherers to farmers to industrialized men could have taken the life cycles of organisms into account thereby became the “natural history” against which all and calculated the length of years one generation of progress or regress of other ethnicities became mea- organisms of a particular species takes to reproduce. But as sured (Gontier 2009). In sum, the widely used notions of such, there would be no uniformity in time. Bacteria development, regress and progress that founded many of reproduce in minutes, fruit flies reproduce after 6 days, the early historical seriation attempts, would simply be rabbits after 4.5–8 months depending on the species, and constituted for evolution, and the hypothesized chronolo- humans only after years. If Darwin would have been gies would be converted into timelines. interested in modelling these reproductive cycles, he would A similar series of events can be detected in the study of have run into the problem of time and uniformity of development. The study of development went through a motion. Instead, he calculated the number of generations phase of preformationism, where following Aristotle, the by using the decimal number system, thereby investigating life cycle of individual development (coming and becom- how evolution occurs over generations 1, 2, 3, until they ing) was considered to be fixed and predestined, from reach thousands. sperm and/or egg to organism to death. The fixity of spe- More specifically, Darwin’s (1859: 116–118) hypothet- cies and the predestined script of development thereby ical diagram (Fig. 5) depicts species A to L, set at an provided an idea of Greek uniformity of motion as well as “unequal distance” because “these species are supposed to repetition, one that for the Judeo-Christians demonstrated resemble each other in unequal degrees, as is so often the God’s omnipotence. As such, it was more interesting for case in nature.” Focusing on species A, he goes on to these early scholars to understand the linear sequence of describe how the dotted lines represent its various offspring development (by, for example, as Schedel did, distin- which he calculates by generations. One horizontal line guishing between the Ages of life) and thus to establish a represents 1.000 generations, “The intervals between the chronological seriation of events, than that they focused on horizontal lines in the diagram, may represent each a the actual timing of development within a number line. thousand generations; but it would have been better if each With the introduction of Darwinian evolutionary ideas had represented ten thousand generations.” After 1.000 and especially mutation theories, scholars came to realize such generations, he hypothesized that many of the off- that the circle or cycle of development can be broken and spring would not have been preserved by nature (the ones the direction of evolution can be altered, and such first and that do not reach the horizontal line). But a1 and m1, for foremost brings forth a quest for continuity and uniformity, example, would have diverged sufficiently from one which evolutionary scholars found in the cyclic regenera- another to have formed new varieties. After another 1.000 tion of organisms that pass on their gemulles or genes, from generations, a1 brings forth another variety, and m1 has one generation to the next. brought forth 2. Darwin’s hypothetical scenario continued Haeckel (1866), more inspired by the “positivistic” until generation 10,000, and then in what he calls a “con- movements, instead imposed a Cartesian linearity onto densed and simplified form,” until 14,000 generations. development. Haeckel’s biogenetic law first and foremost So while he starts off by accepting the unequal preser- states that ontogenesis (development, the original subject vation and selection of generations of offspring, as well as of natural history) recapitulates phylogenesis (evolution), unequal divergence of varieties, he sets the time interval and he saw his law active in both the biological and for significant divergence at a steady rate of 1000 genera- sociocultural domain. New traits, for Haeckel, either tions. As such, through calculating not the reproductive become added by terminal addition, or old traits resurface cycles of individuals but the number of generations, he is through atavism. 123 628 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637

Fig. 5 Darwin’s (1859: 116) hypothetical diagram on how species diverge. Obtained from http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/published/ 1859_Origin_F373/1859_Origin_F373_fig02.jpg

In this regard, it is interesting that his idea was fiercely and time’s cycle, this distinction also enables one to countered by Thompson (1917), for example, who understand his work on evo-devo. attempted to understand the development of form, in a true There are more Cartesian and Newtonian moves to be Platonic sense and thus by going back to the ancients, by found in Darwin’s work that counter research on life means of mathematics and geometry, a tradition that is cycles. In so far as Darwin endorsed a Lamarckian theory today continued from within both physics and mathematics with regard to his ideas on gemulles and how they propa- where scholars focus on the geometrical form of physio- gate, he investigated how external force, i.e. the logical structures, much more than on their evolution (e.g. environmental alteration of gemulles during an individual’s Mandelbrot 1982; Stewart 2001). life time and the selection by the outer environment of the Equally, early embryologists and epigeneticists such as organism, impacts the course of evolution. With the von Bear, countered the law-like status that became introduction of the Weismann barrier, an organism merely attributed to natural selection theory by investigating the proposes and the environment disposes of the maladaptive, natural history of the number of cell generations (recurring and no “inner wanting” of the individual can change that. cycles) it takes to develop an individual, and how pertur- Such ideas have since been countered by scholars such as bations in those recurring cycles bring forth evolution: Lewontin who introduced the idea of niche construction, change over time (Gould 1977; Schwartz 1999). This tra- and by scholars such as Williams and Dawkins that dition today is continued by evo-devo schools, where the demonstrated how selection can be internalized, because recurring interactions between genes and proteins are used selection not merely works at the organism-environment to explain pattern formation or the evolution of a bauplan, interface. i.e. the structure of developmental form. Though Gould The work on punctuated equilibria that Gould developed only linked Eliade’s work to his research on the geological in collaboration with Niles Eldredge (Eldredge and Gould time scale, where he distinguished between time’s arrow 1972), can be understood as an attempt to counter both

123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 629 uniformitarianism and the Cartesian causal teleology it devo, reticulate evolution, and macroevolutionary schools implies, by restoring natural history to a study of patterns of thought also focus on non-linear processes that underlie and building a chronology thereof, that instead of finding the change biological individuals undergo over time. laws, focusses on finding the rhythms or periodicities of Fourthly, we analyze how scholars that currently work speciation and extinction events. Eldredge (1995, 1999) from within an “extended” synthesis investigate different would in this regard describe himself and scholars such as phenomena at different levels of the evolutionary hierarchy Vrba and Gould as “naturalists”, while he characterized to “time” evolution, ranging from molecular at the scholars such as Dawkins and Williams as “universal micro-level, to interactions between genes, organisms and Darwinists”. The former set out to find evolutionary pat- species at a meso-level, and interactions between the living terns, while Eldredge attributes a form of “physics envy” to and abiotic environment at the macro-level. the latter for trying to turn natural selection into a physical 1. Descartes reduced space to matter in a material ple- law (for a discussion see Gontier 2015). num where ether was considered a kind of matter, and he As inspired by empiricism as he was, Darwin also defined time as an idea. The object of physical study for assumed a constant struggle for existence, an idea that has him was to find out how matter moves, which he defined as since been refuted by symbiologists who argue that the duration. We can quantify duration or the motion of matter “law of competition” must be supplemented by “laws of by following its trajectory: we can deduce B (the effect or cooperation” and “mutual aid” (for a discussion see Sapp endpoint of motion) from A (its beginning or cause). 1994a, b; Gontier 2016), something that can only be Subsequently, causality becomes defined as a linear studied by examining the life cycles of individuals. sequence going from A to B. Understanding cause and In sum, the transformation of natural history research to effect relationships as linear enables us to argue the logic evolutionary biological research in many ways can be that cause has antecedence while effect has contiguity in characterized as a change in how the scholars involved time; i.e. cause precedes effect. Such linear notion of conceptualize and measure time. Seriation or chronology causality in turn enables a teleological view, because we which was above all an act of finding the patterns of nature, assume that we can predict the future or infer the past by has become numerical, and with this change, scholars have (back)tracking the trajectory taken by the matter in motion. attempted to transform historical patterns of nature into It also facilitates uniformitarian views, whereby we explain laws that can be calculated by number. Ever since Darwin the matters of fact in a current time by pointing out events and Haeckel, most evolutionary data has become depicted in an earlier period, and in classical physics, it is assumed in Cartesian two-dimensional systems, where one axis that the conditions that cause A to result in B are invariant. represent time and the other represents how traits/organ- Any identification of causes and their effects requires us isms/species (matter) evolve (in space). In current trees of to link a minimum of two events distinct in time and space life that track back life to its very origins, time is often no to one another. This linkage is done by formulating a set of longer expressed by the estimated number of generations conditions or rules. Scholars have often defined these as Darwin would have had it, but in calendrical years. And conditions or rules that causally link separate events in given the millions of years over which we now know terms of immutable and invariable “laws” and “forces” (e. evolution has taken place, we hardly have any affinity with g. Newton’s law of gravitational force) or “mechanisms”, the “years” that follow a number. We do not, for example, notions that stem from a time when scholars thought the think about the 365/6 days that mark every single year that world was fixed and at best linearly progressive (where makes up the estimated 2 billion years of eukaryotic evo- time follows a straight line). These ideas consolidate the lution, we simply focus on the number (2.000.000.000) to uniformitarian views. build our sense of time. Natural selection, for example, following Darwin (1859), is a mechanism that operates according to the following set of rules or conditions. In any one generation, Modern Physics and Evolutionary Biology: The biological organisms portray differential variation, inheri- Problem of Time and Non-linear Dynamics tance, and differential fitness and these “Darwinian principles” (as they are often called, Lewontin 1970), are Here we first analyze how linear Cartesian mechanics conditional for “descent with modification” to occur in influenced Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biology; secondly, later generations of biological organisms. In other words, we investigate how modern physics understands matter, differential variation, inheritance and differential fitness of space and time as relative and how their theories bring organisms older in time, are events linked to the modifi- forth a statistical causality that is founded upon the study of cation of organisms later in time, and natural selection non-linear dynamics and probability equations. Thirdly, becomes a hypothesis for why there exist species, why we return to evolutionary biology and investigate how evo- there is common descent amongst them, and why there is 123 630 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 descent with modification amongst them over time. It The idea that time is cyclic annihilates any sense of furthermore predicts that differential variation, inheritance history, and both the idea that time is merely a fiction or a and fitness will occur in the future. concept of the mind, or the idea that time is absolute, also 2. As we saw, from Galileo onward, the physical sci- annihilate any sense of time. Saying that something is or is ences have reduced time to a mere quantum in order to not, is not that interesting, because we can prove neither measure motion. The before, during and after of an object statement to be true or false. It becomes much more in motion is measured by number, and these moments interesting when we can prove that matter, space or time do coincide with absolute time. The idea that absolute time is not exist always and everywhere, and that is exactly what uniform is by and large determined by the use of a linear current physics has done. mathematical number system. That mathematics is uniform Einstein was able to equate matter with energy by and linear is in turn determined by the causal teleology as it proving that both are the same, but he struggled in par- was introduced and depicted by Descartes and especially ticular with the concept of space. As we know, ether is one Newton. It is, as Heidegger (1915, 2006) demonstrated, the of the most debated substances in classic Aristotelian and fundamental way by which classical physics, thermody- Newtonian physics because it defines either the formation namics, classical mechanics, optics, magnetism and of light or the medium whereby light can travel. As such, it electricity studies understand time, and it enables a unifi- defines how and at what speed light moves cation of these diverse sciences. And this notion of time (299,792,458 m/s which enables distance to be expressed in has for the majority of studies conducted in modern evo- light years) and this is taken as a physical constant, a ref- lutionary biology been used to depict the evolution of life erence for how (fast) all matter (including earthly and over time by means of trees and networks. celestial bodies) moves. Einstein (1920: 3) also endorsed the existence of ether, and in a paper on the subject asked: In the equations of motion – x = x(t),y= y(t), and “How does it come about that alongside of the idea of z = z(t) – time is presupposed as an independent ponderable matter, which is derived by abstraction from variable that changes consistently, i.e. flows uni- everyday life, the physicists set the idea of the existence of formly from one point to another without any leaps. another kind of matter, the ether?” He answered by saying Time is like a simple linear series in which each point that “The explanation is probably to be sought in those of time is differentiated by its current position as phenomena which have given rise to the theory of action at measured from its initial position. Since any given a distance, and in the properties of light which have led to point in time differs from the preceding one only by the undulatory theory,” the theory that states that light is being the succeeding one, it is possible to measure transmitted as waves. Einstein defined matter as “conden- time and therefore motion. As soon as time is mea- sations of electromagnetic field” which means that matter sured (and time has a meaningful function in physics is energy in a solid or gaseous form, and space as “gravi- only as measurable and measuring), we can deter- tational ether or gravitational field” which is defined as the mine a quantitative ‘how much’. This declaration of impact one mass of matter has on another from a distance. ‘how much’ gathers the already elapsed points of Later, scholars would find the concept of ether obsolete and time into a unit. We make a cut, as it were, in the use instead the term gravitational field. With it, both the timescale, thereby destroying the proper flow of time concept of ether and (absolute) space become obsolete. and letting time congeal. The flow freezes, becomes a Minkowski (1908) combined space and time into a segment; and only as a segment can it be measured. single space-time continuum which facilitated Einstein’s Time has become a homogenous ordering of points, a special relativity theory, but this space-time does not yet scale, a parameter. (Heidegger 2006:66) take the curvature of space-time into account. This only happens with general relativity theory, where space-time Heidegger went on to demonstrate that general and special can curve based upon its mass. This allows for the possi- relativity theory “… corroborates to the highest degree bility of time to go slower or faster depending upon its what we spelled out earlier about the character of the distance from mass (Einstein 1907), something that is concept of time in natural science, namely, its homoge- proven by gravitational time dilation experiments (Pound nous, quantitatively determinable character. Nothing could and Rebka 1959), and more recently by the gravitational more clearly express the mathematical character of the waves or ripples in space–time that reached our earth in concept of time within physics than the fact that time is September 2015 and that resulted from the collision of two posited as the fourth dimension alongside three-dimen- black holes 1.3 billion years ago (Moreva et al. 2014; sional space and, together with it, is treated in a non- Abbott et al. 2016). Euclidian geometry, one with more than three dimensions.” 3. Such has a profound impact on how we define (Heidegger 2006: 67) causality. For starters, time or is not uniform. 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 631

The shape of space–time “bends” by its mass. If change is humans are able to track these events, but every trajectory conditional upon “matter in motion”, and if space–time is appears to have its own peculiarities making it difficult to relative according to its mass, then instead of assuming postulate absolute “laws” of nature. invariant or eternal laws of nature, or straight-line trajec- If inheritance, for example, is defined by the vertical tories, we need to take the surroundings into account. A transmission of genes from parent to offspring, as Neo- does not necessarily lead to B, it only does so when the Darwinians prefer, then there was a period when there was rules or conditions that commit A to B do not change. In no selection because there were no replicating entities other words, there can be outside variables that cause for available yet, and the biochemical evolution that precedes perturbations in an otherwise linear causal sequence of the the origin of these replicators and the reaching of what is matter that is in motion (think of the butterfly effect or often called the “Darwinian threshold”, occurred by means catastrophe theory, Gould 1989). And the idea that given a of “spontaneous generation” which today is defined by self- B there must be an A is also mutable, because B might organizing autocatalytic biochemical networks that are have come into existence through C or D—think of constrained by Pauli exclusion principles on how atoms homoplasy, canalization and genetic assimilation, or bond. reticulate evolution. Homologous traits are similar amongst Symbiogenesis explains the origin of some of the various species because they share common descent and eukaryotic organelles, but also symbiogenesis is not a thus common gene sets (Hallgrıˆmsson and Hall 2011), constant force or law. Only some cyanobacteria evolved while homoplastic traits are similar due to similar or shared into chloroplasts, most continued their particular evolu- environmental pressures, processes dubbed parallel and tionary path in natural history, independently. convergent evolution (Conway Morris 1998). During Symbiogenesis is a mechanism that occurs through canalization and genetic assimilation (Waddington 1942), hereditary symbiosis, and hereditary symbiosis occurs an environmentally induced phenotype becomes rather frequently. Newborn infants, for example, are col- stable over generations in time despite differential envi- onized differentially by microbial biota depending upon ronmental and genetic conditions. And during processes of whether they came into the world via the birth canal or via lateral gene transfer and symbiogenesis (Gontier 2016), a C-section. Through the birth canal, newborn infants genes, plasmids or entire biological organisms are acquired receive numerous bacteria from their mother, and if girls, from outside the genealogical descent-line, causing for and if they reproduce, and if they do so without a c-section, non-genealogical descent with modification. they will in turn pass on these microbial communities to In other words, to explain these events, we cannot their infants. merely refer to an organism’s particular past, we need to Lateral gene transfer also occurs rather frequently, but take into account it’s, what Husserl would call, “extended the process is “contingent” upon environmental availability present”, where during ontogeny, the organism encounters of transferrable genes as well as the organismal or genomic distinctly evolved entities that can influence its life path as competence to either stand receptive toward foreign gene well as that of its future generations, and these interactions acquisition (in the case of bacterial conjugation in E. coli induce non-linear change. for example, where an F Factor is required), or the When looked at in a hierarchical fashion, the lower organism’s incapacity to fence off foreign genetic agents levels of a hierarchy are not merely causally responsible for (in the case of transduction or viral infections for example). the focal levels (e.g. genes that underlie a bauplan), the And these “contingencies” in turn can just as well be called higher levels can also influence the focal level through “necessities” for lateral gene transfer to take place, processes such as downward causation (Campbell 1974), as depending upon the position one takes. At the time, other described in processes such as the Baldwin effect (1896). options were available, but to explain the phenomena in And when looked at in a context of timing, what is being hindsight, they form a necessary part of the sequence that used as a chronometer are interactions between different gave way to the acquisition. types of matter, ranging from the micro-meso to In any moment in time, we are left with a set of prob- macrolevel. abilities of which some are more likely than others, what I Of course any event of parallel or convergent evolution, called a statistical causality in Table 1. Antecedence of canalization, lateral gene transfer or symbiogenesis has its cause and contiguity of the effect do not always form a own particular past, i.e. its own particular multi-causal linear pair in time for the simple reason that the conditions event chain or sets of sequences that led for that something that cause for the natural world to change, can themselves to come into existence, but these combine a series of events vary and thus change over time. Modern physics and distinct in space–time together into a new present, in a non- mathematics is currently demonstrating us that reasoning linear causal fashion, and that new present in turn influ- on causality need not follow the rigid linearity that is ences the future differentially. In the best case scenario, we presumed to go from A to B, causality can be multi-variate 123 632 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 linear or non-linear (Nolte 2014). These probabilities are when the organisms that incorporate them first show up in measured in terms of distance apart, i.e. the possibility of geological time which is set against numerical time. one or more event(s) in space and time (or space–time) to At a meso-level, embryologists, symbiologists, ecolo- have a causal influence on other event(s) distinct in space gists, epigeneticists and behavioral scientists examine and time. To measure these likelihoods, we make use of particular life and how, during ontogeny (itself the combinatorics (Berge 1958; Biggs 1974), i.e. we count the succession of forms that one organism goes through from distance between matter (which itself functions as a mea- birth to death), or stated otherwise, how during an extended surement of time, but in so far as distances vary, times vary present, organisms constantly acquire new forms, functions with it). We count observable entities (A, B) and investi- and behaviors, “information” from outside the germline gate how they relate to one another in an arithmetic way that can potentially alter the organism’s life course/cycle (A + B, A − B, A.B, A:B), and from this we deduce and perhaps have causal influence on its future descen- probabilities of influence. It is more likely that a cup falls dants. As such, they investigate how non-linear events and shatters into a thousand pieces, than that those thou- outside the genealogical descent line, disrupt an otherwise sand pieces shattered all over re-assemble into a cup. The linear sequence of descent, by potentially adding new former can be explained by the law of gravity, the re- information that can causally influence future generations. assemblage would require more “energy”, but there is no Studies on ecological interactions that organisms and law for or against it. species maintain amongst themselves and the abiotic Combinatorics underlies any theoretical or figurative environment, or research on ecological inheritance, epi- type of modelling of the world (such as graph theories), and genetic inheritance, hereditary symbiosis, or lateral gene any form of combinatorics immediately associates with transfer, therefore seek causation in the interactions part-whole divisions, reductionism versus holism debates, between organisms, and these interactions in turn, provide hierarchy theories and the division of the sciences. All yet another way to time change in natural history. require an observer or divider, and as such, all becomes And on a macro-level, geologists and paleontologists relative based upon the divider’s particular frame of ref- have demonstrated that speciation and extinction events erence or epistemological framework wherefrom he defines follow different periodicities, not all of which can be his subject area. And this brings forth a pluralistic stance. captured from within a framework of phyletic gradualism. 4. Evolution has often been defined as the change that Instead, as the theory of punctuated equilibria demon- living beings go through in natural history and thus “in” or strates, long periods of species stability or stasis are often “over” time, and any investigation into natural history is intermitted by short punctuations of rapid change, and such built upon the classic physical notion of time as “succes- change is not only due to gradual changes in gene fre- sion of matter” or “matter in motion”. But what matter do quencies, but often results from macro-events such as evolutionary scholars use nowadays to examine this suc- climate change, and they also take ecological interactions cession of matter and how does this influence our notions into account. of time and causality? Scholars thus developed different means to study the Macro-evolutionary scholars often seek causality in matter that is in motion, and they do so on all scales of the earthly events, micro-evolutionary scholars seek causality biological hierarchy. These tendencies are somewhat con- in genes, and meso-level oriented scholars seek causality in sistent with modern physics where time is conflated with ecological interactions. space into a single space–time continuum. Scholars today Micro-evolutionary, population geneticists, for example, entertain differential spatio-temporal orientations (quantum point towards genes as the cause of heredity, and they track observer positions) of matter. They use different entry- genetic changes vertically over generations of populations. points to study the matter that is in motion, ranging from As such, they deduce “time” from the biological organisms the inorganic over the organic to the superorganic, and themselves, or better, they follow the motion of genes, that these different spatial orientations also demonstrates that become understood as the “true survivors”, while organ- the matter under study is diverse. There is thus no unifor- isms are mere “vehicles” or mediums that facilitate genetic mity or homogeneity to take for granted, because though change (Dawkins 1983). When Zuckerkandl and Pauling genes, organisms and species, in so far as they occupy (1965) introduced their “molecular clock”, they argued that space and time or have a spatio-temporal lifespan, are semantides (RNA, DNA and polypeptides) are a made up of matter, the matter under study is diverse. chronometer to measure and time evolution. So instead of It is therefore no wonder that these studies bring forth looking at the earth’s layers to time events, they look at the discussions not only on matter and space, but also on time changes in molecular sequences that took place in time. through discussions on the pace and rate of evolution, as Nonetheless, the approach is limited because eventually well as discussion on the hierarchy or order of the natural protein or gene-based trees need to become calibrated with world and its associated notions of biological individuality. 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 633

In so far as these subject areas are diverse, one can In other words, time is the pattern or cognitive medium wonder if all define different notions of time. And in so far that helps us conceive “change” in natural history and as all these different notions of time provide relative times, change is defined as the motion or movement of matter in we need to find a way to bring these different periodicities space. Time is not causally responsible for the change we together into a single theory of evolutionary time, because see in the natural world, it is a medium that facilitates us to an absolute frame of reference is currently lacking. Alter- perceive the origin or beginning, succession or existence, natively, we give up on finding such an absolute time and ending or death of a particular structural regularity of altogether. Networks that depict ecological relations, the matter such as, for example, a living being. As such, time biogeographic migration of organisms and the diffusion of becomes a phenomenological item, something that we languages or cultures, or the interactions that exist amongst think, sense, or feel. the biotic and abiotic environment today often remain Hume (1739) furthermore pointed out that inferences on historically unrooted because unlike phylogenetic trees that the past or predictions on the future are (mere) human focus on historical reconstructions, networks focus on expectations and that they are therefore better made sense depicting life in the extended present. of from within fields such as psychology (for a discussion, see Gontier 2015). Following Hume and Kant, early phenomenologists But is Our Notion of Time Obsolete? (Husserl 1964; Russell 1913) and psychologists (James 1890, 1909; Mabbott 1955) started to investigate our It is clear by now that our notions of time pattern our notions of causality and time from within the cognitive research into the nature and natural history of the world. sciences. Such research has shown that dividing events into Question then is why this is the case. The above genealogy a past, present and future mimics our stream of con- of Western cosmologies demonstrates that how we define sciousness and the way we experience our existence, and a time is to some extent culturally determined and as such it strong case can be made for arguing that we have imposed is also malleable and prone to change depending upon the or incorporated such linearity into our linguistic and culture framework or niche one works in or constructs, not mathematical systems as well as into our epistemologies by only in Western but also in non-Western cultures (Sinha & which we define causality. Ga¨rdenfors 2014). But is time no more than a cultural Because such causal linearity and teleology is deeply construct? Here, we give three valid reasons that possibly embedded in our cognitive, linguistic and mathematical allow us to continue endorsing the validity of time as a systems, we are used to call it logical. concept relevant for evolutionary biology. Firstly, our Nonetheless, such linear and uniform time- and causal- notion of time is also partly biologically determined, ity-thinking is also determined culturally, because although because it has been proven, as we will discuss, that our ancient languages of course had tense (see Plato’s citation current conceptualization of time mimics our stream of where he mentions that only “is” is applicable to true consciousness. Secondly, in so far as time functions as a being, but not “was” or “shall be”), we know the associated cognitive medium to conceptualize the world, and in so far cosmologies endorsed a cyclic view of time and a cyclic as we have biologically and socio-culturally evolved this notion of teleology, mostly because of their sexagesimal cognitive trait, we have evolved it as what can be consid- number system. As we saw, the switch from cyclic to linear ered an adaptive response to our environment. Thirdly,we cosmologies correlate with the switch from sexagesimal to are not alone in having evolved a “sense” of time, and no decimal calculation systems that provided for a lineariza- matter how one conceptualizes time or measures tempo, tion of the early mathematics (Chrisomalis 2010; Macey different biological phenomena follow different 1989; Rudman 2007). The temporal division of decimal periodicities. mathematics allows us to predict that 2 and 3 together will 1. Contrary to Newton and Leibniz, Kant rejected the give 5 (and predictions always have a futuristic orienta- idea that there exists an absolute “unmovable” space tion), and that 5 − 3 eventually brings us back to 2 (and (DePierris and Friedman 2013), and following Descartes inferences are always drawn about the past). This linear and Hume, he understood time, defined as duration (or true time-thinking became foundational for mechanical time), as an a priori given, a presupposition or “pure form causality that, just because we assume that we can make of the sensuous intuition” (Kant 1781 CPR, I, II, SS5), predictions on the future and inferences from the past, because we can neither think of the co-existence of sepa- remains teleological. It is important to note that the above rate entities or the totality of existence (simultaneity) nor of number talk is not simply a word game, it is part of our the succession of matter without time (while, according to linguistic systems where we use tense to link different Kant, we can think of time without phenomena, Janiak events in time and space together into a linear sequence to 2012). make sense of the world. 123 634 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637

But while time is the cognitive medium through which early natural history schools, to modern physics and evo- we experience change at a phenomenological level, it’s lutionary biology. ontological existence is questioned with opinions ranging Secondly, we have analyzed these cosmologies by their from the reality of time (Mangabeira Unger & Smo- cosmographies that transitioned from Far and Middle lin 2014) to its unreality (McTaggart 1908). Eastern wheels of time and ancient Greek chains of being 2. In so far as we do use concepts such as time and space to Judeo-Christian scala naturae and scientific tree dia- to order our consciousness, languages, mathematics and grams to current network diagrams. Network diagrams our notions of causality, they must have evolved. The indeed already originate in the 19th century where natural modern evolutionary sciences, and by following classic history scholars used them to examine the affinity between philosophical and psychological traditions, understand time natural kinds and the ecological interactions they entertain as an evolved cognitive medium that enables us humans to as well as to depict their biogeography or diffusion in organize our “flow of consciousness” and to navigate in the space, but in so far as these investigations developed out- world (Atance & O’Neill 2001; Ferretti 2014;Po¨ppel 1985; side the framework provided by the Modern Synthesis, Sinha & Ga¨rdenfors 2014; Suddendorf and Corballis 1997; these network typologies currently associate with schools Varela 1999). that belong to an extended synthesis. From within an evolutionary epistemological stance, we Thirdly, we have demonstrated that how cosmologies can argue that in so far as space and time are evolved cartography and define matter, space and especially time cognitive traits that enable us to navigate in the world, they correlate with how they differentially define causality. The must have evolved in relation to something, and one can ancient Greeks endorsed a cyclic notion of time and a even say that having any sense of time and space is cyclic notion of teleology. Judeo-Christian cosmology adaptive because not having any often leads to insan- distinguished between eternity and created, historical time ity (Corballis 2013). that they understood as both cosmogonic and eschatologi- 3. What is more, we are not alone in our sense of time. cal, and they endorsed a chronological notion of teleology Especially the field of chronobiology has been able to that was non-uniform because in their theistic worldviews, differentiate more and more “biological clocks” in asso- their deity could intervene in creation by divine will, not in ciation with microevolutionary phenomena such as gene- the least by creating relative time, by presumably giving switching in molecular biology; meso-phenomena includ- humans knowledge thereof via language and mathematics, ing heterochrony or the periodic changes of somatic and and by having the power to end it. Classical physics dis- sexual developmental processes, bio-gerontology or the tinguished absolute, mathematical time from relative time study of aging, and dormancy or the study of environ- and endorsed linear and mechanical notions of causality mentally/seasonally induced periodicities of lower activity while with the introduction of the notion of space-time, (with examples including diapause, hibernation/brumation, modern physics endorses statistical notions of causality horticultural stratification, and circadian rhythms associ- that calculate probabilities and give uncertainties. These ated with diurnal and nocturnal lifestyles); speciation and latter moves are somewhat mimicked by natural history extinction events of species, genera and clades on a macro- scholars that first developed name-based historical/devel- scale. opmental chronologies to which they then tried to add time. So while the physical sciences question the existence of With the rise of the geological time scale and Darwin’s time and put any notion thereof on par with space, and attempt to calculate the rate of evolutionary change, evo- while the emerging cosmologies provided by quantum lutionary biologists too have started to distinguish relative mechanics are currently attempting to explain the universe times from an absolute numerical time that is defined by in what can be characterized as a, for us humans, counter- number. Evolutionary biologists active in fields such as intuitive way, with so many species having evolved a sense evo-devo and epigenetics, ecology, symbiology and lateral of periodicity and time, time remains crucial for the evo- gene transfer, furthermore investigate how non-linear lutionary sciences, both as a topic for research and as a way dynamics and non-genealogical interactions perturbate the to model our past. life cycles of individuals thereby bringing forth statistical probabilities and uncertainties of how change occurs. Fourthly, we have demonstrated that the introduction of Summary different time notions correlates with advances we made in mathematics. Ancient Greek notions of time are derived In this article we have, firstly, provided a historical from older, non-Western sexagesimal number systems that genealogy of western cosmological thought that transi- developed in Vedic India and the Levant, especially in tioned from the ancient Greek cosmologies to Judeo- relation to the establishment of zodiacal systems and Christian cosmology, to the rise of classical physics and attempts to predict the weather. Judeo-Christian cosmology 123 Evol Biol (2016) 43:604–637 635 transitioned from these ancient sexagesimal and circular stream of consciousness. And we can even think of circular cosmologies to a linear cosmology by adopting the Julian time notions as a cognitive means whereby we try and calendar as well as the decimal number system. Evidence is make sense of distinct events in time and space. found in their almanacs that follow the older sexagesimal Eighthly, three valid reasons are given for why we can traditions, as well as in their semi-religious chronologies continue to accept time as a valid notion in evolutionary that they formulated in for them created numerical time, to biology. Firstly, time is not merely a cultural construct, it is explain how unique series of historical events in time and also a cognitive notion that mimics our stream of con- space correlate to one another, not by number, but by sciousness. Secondly, in so far as time functions as a divine will. With the rise of classical physics, time cognitive medium to conceptualize the world, and in so far becomes subordinated to the decimal number system that as we have biologically and socio-culturally evolved this starts to function as a quantum to examine the succession cognitive trait, it is an outcome of evolution. As such one of matter in motion that becomes depicted in the Cartesian can prove that time, at least for us humans, is real in so far two-dimensional coordinate system. And natural history as we can prove the evolution of time as a cognitive research takes off by reformulating the older scala naturae medium. Thirdly, we are not alone in having evolved a and historical chronologies into evolutionary theories. In “sense” of time, and no matter how one conceptualizes both the biological and the physical sciences, uniformity is time or measures tempo, different biological phenomena found by quantifying change by uniform number lines. follow different periodicities. For these reasons, we can Fifthly, we have examined how the recognition of the argue that time, at least for the biological sciences, remains relativity of matter, space and time in modern physics as a valid concept. well as the development of non-linear mathematical tools to model the latter have on the one hand incited scholars Acknowledgments This work was funded by the Portuguese Fund active in the extended synthesis to model and quantify for Science and Technology (Grant ID SFRH/BPD/89195/2012 and Project ID UID/FIL/00678/2013). Cordial thanks also go out to evolutionary change differentially, ranging from molecular Michael Bradie, Francesco Ferretti, Bendedikt Hallgrı´msson, Hen- clocks at a micro-level to interactions between different rique Leita˜o, Kate Maschmeyer, Eric Schliesser and Chris Sinha. units and levels of the evolutionary hierarchy on a meso- level to investigations into the periodicities that underlie Compliance with Ethical Standards speciation and extinction events on a macroscale. And on Conflict of interest None. the other, it has made scholars question the very existence of time. Sixthly, this has brought forth a fundamental gap References between modern physics and evolutionary biology, because eventually, it remains the goal of evolutionary biologists to Abbott, B. P., LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collabora- calibrate the different timescales (obtain from fossils, tion, et al. (2016). 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